PF Official Warns Chiefs Against Interference

Luapula Province PF youth chairperson Jacob Chilufya has cautioned some chiefs in the province not to interfere in the internal affairs of the ruling party.
Chilufya’s caution comes in the wake of four sub-chiefs demanding the adoption of their preferred candidate in the forthcoming Mwansabombwe’s Mulele ward by-election.
Sub-chiefs Salanga, Seesa, Kankoloto and Mumbolo have demanded that Richard Kabaso be adopted to contest the by-election on the PF ticket.
Last week, 22 PF ward officials also backed Kabaso to contest as independent candidate if area member of parliament, Rodgers Mwewa, refused to endorse him (Kabaso).
But Chilufya said he had problems with traditional leaders involving themselves in the PF internal matters and called for an immediate end to the trend.
Chilufya, who is also Mwansabombwe district council chairperson said it had become common for some chiefs in Luapula to dictate to the party which candidates they wanted to be adopted.
“Inasmuch as we appreciate chiefs’ love for the PF, we would be more comfortable if their royal highnesses desist from wanting to interfere with the operations of the party. We want our chiefs to play a much more developmental role than politics, ” said Chilufya.
He claimed that chiefs’ involvement in the internal operations of the political parties cost the MMD victory in 2011.
Chilufya said sharp differences among members of political parties were caused by chiefs who played double standards during the campaigns.
He said some chiefs, especially those in Luapula, had misinformed Rupiah Banda on the perceived popularity of some of the candidates who ended up losing in the 2011 polls.
“We don’t want what happened to MMD in 2011 to happen to PF, where some chiefs dictated to them (MMD) on who they wanted to be adopted in their chiefdoms. Chiefs are not politicians who should offer services to the PF. We want chiefs to remind us when we fail to build a road in their chiefdoms, not when we have an in-house affair, ” he said.
He advised party officials to resist the temptation of reporting matters affecting the PF to chiefs, but rather asked them to table them with the top leadership within the party.
“Our loyalty is to President Michael Sata, the central and provincial committees and not to chiefs. We are not answerable to chiefs. If we have problems, they are sorted out by ourselves and the top leadership, not chiefs, ” he said.

Posted by Kunda on May 27, 2014. Filed under POLITICS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry