KAMPYONGO RUBBISHES SP ATTACK CLAIMS

CLAIMS by the Socialist Party that their Shiwanga’ndu parliamentary candidate Andrew Kapasa was brutal- ly attacked and left uncon- scious by Patriotic Front (PF) members in the con- stituency are just desperate propaganda antics aimed at preparing a ground for pe- titioning their pending loss, says PF candidate Stephen Kampyongo. And Mr Kampyongo said he had no time responding to propaganda by nonenti- ties like Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe and his Gen- eral Secretary Cosmas Mu- sumali who even when they were put together could not defeat him on the ballot box. He was reacting to a state- ment by Dr Musumali that his party Parliamentary candidate for Shiwang’an- du Constituency, Andrew Kapasa was allegedly bru- tally beaten and knocked unconscious by PF cadres in Mr Kampyongo’s campaign team. In an interview, Mr Kampyongo who is for- mer Home Affairs Minister described Dr Musomali’s statement as a dangerous propaganda campaign tactic aimed at finding grounds to petition their pending loss. He said after feeling the heat due to his popularity in the constituency, the So- cialist Party leadership had resorted to waging a danger- ous propaganda by claiming that their candidate was at- tacked just to discredit the polls outcome. Mr Kampyongo howev- er warned that the Socialist Party would not succeed with its propaganda aimed at demonizing him because the people of Shiwang’andu would defend him through the ballot box. “Well, my response is that obviously, the returning offi- cer will respond to that pro- paganda that these chaps have come up with. But the people of Shiwang’andu will be speaking in a few days’ time. And if Musomali thinks propaganda will help them, let them just wait for four days after voting. He can de- monize me, but the people of Shiwang’andu who I rep- resent know who I am,” Mr Kampyongo said. Mr Kampyongo He also said he would rather concentrate on en- gaging the electorates in the constituency than wasting his time responding to pro- pagandists in Socialist Party who would never defeat him, including their president Dr M’membe