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—North Western Province Patriotic Front leadership has cautioned one of the six applicants seeking adoptions to contest the Solwezi Central Constituency seat on the party ticket to stop canvassing for adoption using arm-twisting tactics.
Provincial youth chairperson, Grephan Kakumbi, told ZANIS that Edwin Sekelechi, one of the aspirants seeking adoption on the ruling party for the Solwezi Central by-elections, has been using youths and market traders to hold protests to interfere with the adoption process.
Mr Kakumbi said the youths have recently been to North West television with placards claiming that people in Solwezi Central will not vote for PF if the party fails to adopt Mr Sekelechi.
He said yesterday, a group of market traders marched to the ruling party provincial offices to demand that the party adopts Mr Sekelechi failure to which they will not vote for PF in the forthcoming by-election.
The provincial youth chairmperson said Mr Sekelechi was summoned and warned against interfering with the party regulations that ban any form of canvassing for adoption as a candidate in an election.
When contacted for a comment, Mr Sekelechi said he is not sending anyone to canvass for his adoption as all those doing so were only expressing independent views about what they know of him.
He also complained of being mistreated by the PF provincial executive committee that at one point had tried to refuse to send his application for adoption to the party secretariat.
And yesterday, Kimasala ward PF youth Chairperson, Felix Kalupentala, told ZANIS that the ruling party will lose the Solwezi Central seat should the PF national committee rely on recommendations from the provincial executive committee when adopting a candidate.
Mr Kalupentala accused the constituency and district officials of having been bribed by a named applicant whom they selected as the most popular just to eliminate Mr Sekelechi from the adoption process.
Today, a student union leader at Solwezi Trade Institute, Rodney Shilanga, joined those calling for the adoption of Mr Sekelechi whom he said is popular and would win the seat for PF.
Electorates in Solwezi Central Constituency go back to the polls on the February 25, 2014 to elect a new MP in a by-election.
This is after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) MP, Lucky Mulusa, after PF losing candidate, Friday Malwa, petitioned the 2011 parliamentary results citing corruption.
So far six applicants have shown interest to contest the seat on the ruling party ticket.
The six include Newton Malwa, Edwin Sekelechi, Jimmy Ndumba, Thomas Vundamina, Ben Ngambo and Natharzy Sichalwe.
The adoption process has already passed the constituency and district leaderships, and will on Friday move to the provincial committee that will short-list three out of the six names before the national committee decides the preferred applicant for adoption.
