The opposition UPND has accused the ruling party of working with District Commissioners to campaign using government resources in the just ended local government by-elections, which the PF won 9 out of 12 seats.

In an interview with News Diggers! UPND national chairperson Mutale Nalumango said since the PF claimed to be popular they needed to allow fair campaigns so that people could vote freely without intimidation.

“These people are using all government systems for themselves, particularly the DCs. Nobody in the law and in the establishment of the office of the DC said that the DC was a political player. The DC is a government player but they are sending DCs to go everywhere and campaign using government resources. We can not allow that as a nation,” Nalumango said.

“Let people have the freedom to choose what they want with everything being equal. I don’t think the PF has the popularity that they want to claim. If they were so popular then why not allow people to vote without intimidation, buying votes, abusing government workers like District Commissioners, using government resources?” she asked.

“Why were they abusing state machinery like the police to intimidate voters? Democracy is being eroded almost every day because of the behaviour of the PF and the abuse of government recourses. Where are they getting all the money that they are using in the by-elections?”

She said the country had the right to know where the PF was getting its resources from.

“PF is misusing resources. We don’t know where they are getting them from so they should be able to answer that. We have the right to know and they have a duty to explain it to the people.”