Former president Rupiah Banda says people criticizing him for endorsing Patriotic Front (PF) presidential candidate Edgar Lungu should stop doing so because he has a democratic right to support any candidate of his choice.
Mr. Banda said he does not see anything wrong for him to rally behind Mr. Lungu because according to him, he is the right person to be president of Zambia.
He said some prominent politicians have supported the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema but they have not been condemned by any one.
He noted that Zambians should exhibit fairness by not blaming him for taking political sides despite him being the fourth president of Zambia.
Mr. Banda said it was up to the Zambian people to elect the leader of their choice on January 20, 2015.
He has however warned that people should be careful not to choose a wrong leader who will plunge the country into economic doldrums.
"I have a democratic right to support a leader of my choice just like any other Zambian. People should not heap the blame on me alone but should also criticise other leaders who rallied behind their tribe mates," Mr. Banda said.
And on his son Andrew, Mr. Banda said that his son has a democratic right to belong to any political grouping of his choice.
Mr. Banda noted that his son is an elderly person who has all the right to exercise his democratic right adding that this was not the first time for Andrew to support a presidential candidate of his choice.
He said that what will be wrong for his son would be engaging him in traditionally wrong verbal words when exercising his democratic right to criticize him as a father.
Maudrine Anderson
a democratic right based on ‘umodzi ku mawa & wako ni wako’ shame former head of state & vanquished mmd fake leader.