Patriots for Economic Progress president Sean Tembo has asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to recall the organisations’ representative in Zambia, Janet Rogan, in the wake of allegations that she helped the PF rig 2016 elections.

On Friday, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema charged that Rogan helped the Patriotic Front to manipulate elections.

Hichilema wondered why President Lungu was so comfortable discrediting international players to Rogan when she also represented an International body.

“Earlier, I touched on a matter that when Mr Lungu was talking about foreign power, he was hosting Janet Rogan. Janet Rogan is the UN representative in our country, what is UN? Is it not according to Lungu a foreign power? So how come he was hosting a member of the UN representing UN in this country and demeaning foreign powers when one of them was being hosted by him? Can you see the parallels there?” asked Hichilema.

“Our message is that we are aware of Janet Rogans maneuvers, we are very much aware. We have been very much aware for a long time of Janet Rogan’s maneuvers. Working with the electoral commission to manipulate voter registration, to manipulate ballot paper printing in Dubai, Janet Rogan was involved in that, we are aware. We are aware that Janet Rogan is fraternizing with ministers of the PF almost on a daily basis, weekly basis. We are aware that Janet is hosting the ZCID and encouraging the ZCID to say ‘you take the lead’ so that she can participate in the manipulation of the dialogue process as she participated in the manipulation of the elections in our country. Unlike PF, we did not start shouting at Rogan.”

And Tembo said in a statement, Monday, Tembo observed that the allegations, though unverified, could not be rubbished because the UPND was Zambia’s main opposition party whose concerns could not be ignored.

He said there was no way Rogan could continue to properly discharge her duties when he reputation had been dented beyond repair.

“As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP), we have noted the accusations that were recently leveled against the United Nations Country Representative to Zambia, Ms Janet Rogan by the United Party for National Development regarding alleged improper conduct before, during and after the 2016 general elections. From where we stand, it is difficult to ascertain the efficacy of the allegations leveled against the UN Country Representative. However, what is clear is that subsequent to these allegations, Ms Janet Rogan’s public standing in this country has been tainted beyond redemption and she cannot reasonably be expected to properly discharge her duties as the United Nations Head of Mission to Zambia,” Tembo stated.

Given the foregoing, we hereby call upon the UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres to immediately recall the UN Country Representative to Zambia. In as much as the UPND allegations against Ms Janet Rogan cannot be verified, neither can they be rubbished. It must be noted that as the official main opposition political party in Zambia, the UPND is a key player in our democratic processes as a nation and the UN should not ignore their concerns.”

And Tembo encouraged the UN to send a team of investigators to Zambia to ascertain the veracity of the allegations, saying the body would lose its relevance across the African Continent if it failed to adequately address the matter.

“The United Nations is supposed to be a completely impartial body and all allegations of impropriety must be conclusively addressed. In this regard, we call upon the UN Secretary General to ensure that in addition to recalling Ms Janet Rogan, the United Nations must send a team of investigators to come to Zambia and ascertain the veracity of the allegations made by the UPND against the UN Country Representative to Zambia. As PeP, we believe that if the United Nations fails to adequately address this matter, the entire institution risks losing its relevance not only in Zambia, but across the African Continent as it will be perceived as a neo-imperialist body that is bent on undermining the democratic processes of member countries,” stated Tembo.