Lusaka - Expelled Zambian cabinet minister Ben Mwila on Friday said he outmanoeuvred the government by using two different application forms in order to register his new opposition party.
Mwila, an uncle of President Frederick Chiluba, was expelled from the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) early last month and on July 27 announced the formation of his new oposition party but said it still has to be named.
Mwila said he was aware of the government's intention not to register any political party which had direct links with him.
"I knew the MMD government was doing all it could not to allow my party to be legal," Mwila said.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Machungwa said after the Registrar of Societies studied Mwila's application form to register the Zambia Republican Party (ZRP), it was evient that the ZRP had similarities with the Republican Party (RP) of a George Mpundu which the government decided to register.
It was only after the Republican Party was registered that it became known that it was in fact Mwila's new party and that the application form was submitted by Lusaka businessman and Mwila sympathiser George Mpundu.
Mwila, a founder member of the ruling MMD in 1990, was expelled after he publicly announced his intention to seek the presidency of the ruling party and by extension the republican presidency.
Armed police last Sunday searched Mwila's Lusaka residence and farm for arms, seditious material and stolen goods but the search yielded nothing. - Sapa-DPA