UPND chairperson of elections Gary Nkombo says his party will eventually take government to court over the mobile issuance of National Registration Cards.

In an interview, Nkombo said it was clear that PF was manipulating the mobile issuance of NRCs.

“They have the instruments of power, we cannot start standing up to them and start slapping them around. We can go to court, that is an option, to ask the court to adjudicate over this unfair way of running the national affairs and that is as far as we can go. We cannot go into a boxing ring and start beating people up, that is not what we are supposed to do. Eventually, we are going to litigate,” Nkombo said.

“It doesn’t require investigations because it is a foregone conclusion that the PF, the National Registration Office, the ECZ they are all related, they are distant cousins. It is all a scheme that they must do what they are doing, we are not surprised, there is no need for investigations because it was a forgone matter that they will be manipulating this process and it has exposed them. Honourable [Stephen] Kampyongo is a PF member, Mr Davies Mwila told the whole country and the whole country listened that this issuance of National Registration Cards is a party programme, that is what he called [it]. It is clear they are manipulating but you can fool people sometimes but you can’t fool them all the time.”

He said the postponement of issuance of NRCs in phase two would affect the process negatively.

“The delay obviously occasions a lot of worry, we are very worried that most of the people of this country, not just phase two areas, the entire process is a sham and whatever they do, they will not achieve their objectives. It should just be clear in everybody’s mind that whatever manipulation that these cousins are trying to do will not yield their desired results because we already know that the whole country will not forget the last 10 difficult years under the PF, they will not forget,” said Nkombo.

“Nothing will make them forget the events of the last 10 years, of tyranny, of hunger, of poverty. So it is an exercise in futility what they are doing. It is a futile exercise and we know their manipulations. So, the chickens have come to roost now, they have to do anything possible with impunity to disadvantage certain groups of people but it won’t work.”