Zambia: Banda Will Win Big

1 July 2011

VETERAN politician and MMD parliamentary chief whip Vernon Mwaanga has said President Rupiah Banda is set to win the 2011 presidential elections with a high margin on account of the gains he has made through the positive poverty alleviation policies.

Giving an analysis on how all the presidential candidates have performed in the last two years, Mr Mwaanga said the farmer input support programme in rural areas would make the opposition lose the elections by wide margins.

He said during a media briefing at his residence in Lusaka yesterday that the United Party for National Development (UPND) was likely to retain Southern Province with President Banda emerging in second position just like in Lusaka and the Copperbelt provinces which would be won by Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata with Mr Banda coming on a strong second.

The veteran politician said he had always produced analysis before elections and that all the final results of his statements had been in line with his predictions while the ones produced by The Post Newspaper had always been wrong, including the one done in 2006.

Mr Mwaanga said a story quoting him in yesterday’s Post was authored with “mischievous motives” and had since stopped conducting interviews with individual media houses unless there were other journalists so that liars who distort facts could be exposed.

He said the Post “squeezed” material on Chongwe Constituency and its Member of Parliament Sylvia Masebo from an interview that was conducted last week on Saturday and left out the main thrust of the interview even when the interviewer said the Chongwe aspect was a by-the-way matter.

He said President Banda would win with run-away margins in Eastern, Western, North-Western and Central provinces where Mr Sata would come in a distant third, to make him a big loser.

He predicted that Mr Sata would only come second in Eastern Province.

Mr Mwaanga said on the Copperbelt, President Banda would be second only in the urban areas but would win in the rural parts of the province.

He said in the Bemba-speaking areas of Northern Province, Mr Sata was expected to win but would lose in all non-Bemba speaking areas such as Chimbamilonga, Senga Hill, Isoka East and West, Nakonde, Mpulungu, Kaputa and surrounding areas.

Mr Sata would win in Luapula Province by a small margin but the race would be tight against President Banda because of the gains he had recorded in the area.

He said President Banda’s rise in popularity had resulted from the schools, hospitals, clinics and roads which were being ignored by opposition politicians and yet people in the rural areas were able to see them.

Mr Mwaanga said Mr Hichilema would emerge second to President Banda in Western and North-Western provinces.He also described as malicious reports that he had fallen out of favour with President Banda.

Mr Mwaanga said the fact that he was left out of the campaign team did not stop him from performing other duties that the party would assign him.

AllAfrica – All the Time