By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA? –

THE battle for supremacy in the Solwezi Central Constituency parliamentary by-election, has today, Thursday, September 11, 2014,  reached the decider point, as the electorate from different political parties, take to the booth to bestow instruments of power on their preferred candidate.
Parliamentary candidates from five political parties have  entered the  fierce race which will decide a single winner to represent the people of Solwezi Central in Parliament.
The seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court nullified the election of MMD Member of Parliament (MP) Lucky Mulusa on grounds of alleged  electoral malpractices.
Mr Mulusa, however, has refused to throw in the towel and will be in today’s polls, betting his luck to retain the seat on the same former ruling MMD ticket.
Four other candidates are also on the queue seeking the mandate of the 52, 900 registered voters for Solwezi Central Constituency to represent the people in the area.
The other four aspiring candidates include ruling Patriotic Front (PF)’s Newton Malwa, United Party for National Development (UPND)’s Dawson Kafwaya, Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD)’s Kabwita Nathan Mulonga, and Mary Katiki of the United National Independence Party (UNIP).
In the run up to today’s elections, the five candidates have each spared no effort in underlying their credentials to win the polls.

LUCKY MULUSA
(MMD)
Mr Mulusa’s unyielding belief that he is the right candidate for the Solwezi Central Constituency parliamentary by-election is premised on the fact that, of the five contenders, he is the only one with a track?record of an MP, unlike others who he said, lacked experience to handle the challenge.
He said in his previous service as MP for Solwezi Central Constituency, demonstrated his leadership ability by being a good initiator for development.
“I have served the people of this Solwezi Central Constituency and they all know that I never failed to deliver development,” he said.

NEWTON MALWA
(PF)
Born in 1975, Mr Malwa feels now is the perfect age for him to ascend to the position of public service and expressed confidence of winning the Solwezi Central constituency by-election.
“I am confident of winning this seat and the reason is simple. This seat has` been in the hands of the opposition for years but has?remained underdeveloped and people now want to experience change,” he said.
Mr Malwa who is confident of winning by landslide margin said when elected, his priority would be to foster development in Solwezi District and Solwezi Central constituency in particular.
At the moment, he said, Solwezi is one of the least developed areas in the country and yet it is  endowed with abundant mineral wealth.
“Solwezi is one of the richest districts as you know, this place is home to three of the biggest mines which contribute in excess of K23 million to council and yet there is nothing to show for that money and this is because of poor leadership by previous representatives,” he said.
Mr Malwa said it was his desire when elected, to help restore prudent management of resources obtained from the mines to ensure the mineral wealth in the districted translated into improved welfare of the local people.

DAWSON KAFWAYA
(UPND)
Aged 30 this year, Mr Kafwaya’s assurance to the electorate in Solwezi Central Constituency is that, he presents them with an opportunity for dynamic and vibrate leadership.?He boasted of being an indigenous person having been born and bred in the province and that as such, he was best suited to be entrusted with the mandate of representing the people of Solwezi Central in Parliament.
Mr Kafwaya is aware of some of his opponents underestimating his ability to handle the challenge of providing efficient and effective representation of the people in Parliament on account of his age.
“There are some people among my opponent who are trying to write me?off by claiming I am young and can’t offer effective representation in Parliament but I must say that I have the same qualifications as those same critics if not better because I hold a Bachelors Degree in Science Banking and Finance and right now, I am studying for my Masters,” Mr Kafwaya said.
He was, however, happy with the peaceful manner the political campaigns were held in Solwezi Central and expressed optimistic that would emerge victorious in today’s polls.
“Competition is there but all the same we are going to carry the day because UPND has been on the ground and more importantly, people want change,” he said adding that: “We have 98 per cent chances of winning all we are waiting for is just the close of voting.”
Mr Kafwaya said the people of Solwezi were faced with a lot of challenges ranging from inadequate road and school infrastructure which he was eager to help improve to help uplift the welfare?of people in the area in accordance with the UPND manifesto.

KABWITA MULONGA
(FDD)
Mr Mulonga, who rated his chance of winning as 50-50 with other aspiring candidates had, however, no kind words for the ruling PF and the two former ruling parties MMD and UNIP, accusing them of having neglected Solwezi and North-Western Province in general in terms of?development.
He said the poor roads, broken down bridge infrastructure and poor water reticulation and sanitation in Solwezi Central, was evidence enough that Government had neglected the welfare of people in the?area.
“One of the serious roles I need to play when I am elected is the advocacy role of ensuring that funds approved in the yellow book for Solwezi are released to go towards addressing such challenges,” he said.
Mr Mulonga said one of his priority areas when elected would be to ensure prudent management of public resource such as Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and also seeing to it that women and?youths, were supported in the area of economic empowerment.
He was looking forward to being elected so that he could take a leading role in influencing meaningful development in the?constituency.
Mr Mulonga urged the electorate to vote for him in today’s polls so that they could be assured of an effective and mature leader who would ably represent them.
“I only hope people will not be looking at the names of political parties but rather a candidate who can effectively represent them,” Mr Mulonga said.
MARY KATIKI
(UNIP)
The UNIP candidate said being the only female contestant in the Solwezi?Central parliamentary race, she is the only alternative for change as male parliamentarians had all failed the electorate in the area.
Ms Katiki called on women who are the majority voters to rally behind?her so that it could be proved that females were more effective leaders than men.