Pro-endorsement group seizes PF Lusaka District office

A GROUP of Patriotic Front (PF) members in Lusaka proposing the candidature of President Michael Sata for the 2016 elections has taken over the district office after clashes with those believed to oppose the move.
And Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa has changed his position and supported his constituency’s decision to support the endorsement of President Sata.
Former Lusaka mayor and Chawama Constituency chairperson Robert Chikwelete has since taken over the office as interim chairperson.
Mr Chikwelete said yesterday that he was in charge of the district office and that by Monday an interim committee would be formed to run the affairs of the party in the district.
He advised the media not to mislead the public that Mr Sata had sanctioned the taking over of the office because it was the members that had acted.
He said President Sata had nothing to do with the development because it was constituency leaders in the district who noticed that things were not moving in the right manner.
Constituency leaders, he said, were the ones in charge of wards and sections, and that was the reason they acted by taking over the district office.
Mr Chikwelete said the former executive committee should not think that they were being fought because in politics such things happened.
As a result of the fracas that started on August 31, 2013, the pro-endorsement camp went on rampage breaking and replacing locks to block the district committee led by Goodson Banda which has since been hounded out of office.
Mr Chikwelete said the party had appointed him to take charge of the district office until elections were held.
And Mr Sampa told journalists in Lusaka yesterday that he supported the endorsement of President Sata as the sole candidate in line with calls from constituency officials.