Zambian politicians and money…
So, Andyford Mayele Banda quit as running mate of Organized People’s Party (OPP) presidential candidate Dr Brian Mushimba because of money?
“Regrettably, after nominations were confirmed, OPP’s position started to shift dramatically — from assurances of a previously stated substantial campaign budget that would have enabled a credible national effort, to a far smaller figure.
Despite the change in position of campaign finance that had earlier been communicated to what was now a significant lower figure, we didn’t quit as we felt the opportunity was still there to start from somewhere,” Banda revealed in a long-worded statement.
“Assurances of adequate resources to sustain a credible national campaign were unilaterally altered, undermining agreed programs. The justification offered was that “funders wanted the campaign conducted according to their strategy.”
Yet, when PAC requested to meet these funders to explain why such an approach was untenable, no meeting was availed. This left our working relationship strained and increasingly difficult to sustain.”