By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Patriotic Front (PF) has said that the continuation of the Presidential Empowerment Fund is proof that the project was not a campaign tool formed for the 2016 general elections.
PF deputy spokesperson Frank Bwalya said the Presidential Empowerment Fund initiative that started prior to the 2016 general elections has continued, proving critics wrong that it was a campaign tool.

BWALYA

“It was not a campaign gimmick that is why it has continued. It is going on and reaching out to even more people,” Mr Bwalya said.
He said the PF Government wanted to empower all Zambians even when there were no elections coming up.
The PF deputy spokesperson said this yesterday when he featured on Millenium Radio’s The Interview programme yesterday.
Mr Bwalya also said the PF was a law abiding party that did not use its popularity to run public institutions like markets.
He said members of the PF were operating in markets and bus stations just as other members of the public were also operating in those public institutions.
Mr Bwalya said the Lusaka City Council (LCC) was now receiving huge revenue from markets since the PF started governing the country because there was no interference from the ruling party organs.
This was not the case in other governments before.
Mr Bwalya said the public should take an interest in what the local authority was making as profit from markets and bus stations and compare with other times before PF got into power.
He said PF members did not have the power to instruct the police to undertake any arrests.
Mr Bwalya said the public should not confuse media statements made by party members as instructions to the police.
He said PF members and officials had rights like any other citizen to appeal to police to act, therefore, such statements should not be treated as instructions to police to act.