PF member of the central committee Antonio Mwanza has charged that government wants to use the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to kill PF and create a one-party state.

And Mwanza says DEC questioned him over the source of PF campaign funds, which he thought did not make sense since other political parties had not been summoned.

Speaking to journalists after he appeared before DEC, Tuesday, Mwanza wondered why the commission had not summoned other political parties which contested in the August elections.

“We know that they are being used for political expedience. I was called here to disclose the source of funding for the Patriotic Front campaigns. What surprises us is that there were 16 political parties that participated in these elections and so far the Patriotic Front is the only political party that is being questioned about its source of funding. The Drug Enforcement Commission is not questioning any other political party. So this clearly is a case of witch-hunt and we know that the government wants to use institutions such as the Drug Enforcement Commission to kill the Patriotic Front, to kill democracy and to create a one-party state. We want all political parties questioned because this is clearly a political witch-hunt,” Mwanza said.

“The laws of this land are very clear that there is nobody who is compelled to state the source of funding for their political party. We want to say to all agencies of government that they must call all the other 15 political parties that contested the elections, being questioned. As the Patriotic Front, we will not cow down because we have a very important role to play in providing checks and balances to this country. It does matter how many times we are called to the police or DEC. We as a party will continue to provide the checks and balances that are deserved. The Zambian people deserve a strong opposition political party and that is exactly what the Patriotic Front is going to do.”

And Mwanza said the PF would ask their members of parliament to raise a point of order on the issue of cadres harassing PF-aligned bus drivers and traders.

“You saw what happened that they tried to burn the secretariat. We have seen what has been going on where UPND are going round beating people and everyone wearing PF regalia is being undressed. The President of this country has said nothing about what is going on. We have about 100 bus drivers that have been chased from Kulima Tower. Right now as we are speaking the matter is in court because these drivers are not allowed [to operate from the bus station]. We have people at the secretariat who have run away from their homes and we have seen the continuous abuse and destruction of property and [yet] the leadership of the UPND is quiet,” Mwanza said.

“I want to challenge the Minister of local government when he says the cadres have been removed from the bus stations, what does he mean? Cadres have taken over all bus stations and as we are speaking right now our people from the Patriotic Front are forced to pay K1,000 to operate. We want to challenge Gary Nkombo to say cadres have been removed from the markets because it is a lie. We will ask our members of parliament to raise a point of order and to take this government to task. We will not be intimidated because this is our country. We fought for independence and we are not going to fight for independence again.”

Meanwhile, Mwanza said he would continue exposing the injustices of government.

“I will continue to remain one of the critical voices against the injustices and the lies of the ruling government. They thought that they could use these institutions to silence me and stop us from providing checks and balances for the people of Zambia. We know very well this is abuse of office and a waste of time and resources for the Drug Enforcement Commission. They are trying to abuse these institutions of government to finish the Patriotic Front but PF will not be finished and we will stand strong and we know that in 2026, we are bouncing back,” said Mwanza.

“Some of us have been in the game for a very long time and we know that the UPND is quite vindictive. Let UPND concentrate on providing the promises they made to the people of Zambia. They are wasting their time, it is no longer five years today it is four years, 11 months before we have the next elections. So they will be wasting time fishing. The time to fish is gone, let them just provide leadership and make sure that they provide according to the promises they made.”