ALL DECISIONS I MADE ARE IN THE INTEREST OF PF – LUBINDA

ALL DECISIONS I MADE ARE IN THE INTEREST OF PF – LUBINDA

PF Acting President Given Lubinda says PF members should not be worried as he has not made any decision that is not in the best interest of the party.

And Lubinda has questioned who he should reconcile with because he has not differed with anyone.

Speaking when PF members paid a courtesy call on him, Sunday, Lubinda said the party would hold a convention and he will do his best to ensure the programmes of the party were not frustrated.

“I will not and I have not made any decision in my position as president of this party or acting president as many would like to refer to me, which was in the interest of any particular individual, let alone myself. All the decisions that I have made and God help me, all the decisions that I will make, as I hold this position, will be in the best interest of the party, that you can rest assured. You need not worry, the party has been safe for the last four years, the party is going to the convention and I shall ensure that I do whatever I can to safeguard it. I shall ensure I shall do my very best to ensure that the party is protected, that the programmes of the party are not frustrated in the interest of all the members of the party and more so in the interest of the citizens of Zambia,” Lubinda noted.

“For those of you who were talking about reconciling and so on and so forth, while you were saying that, I was wondering, with who have I differed? With who [whom] should I reconcile? I have not differed with anyone whatsoever, and until I meet the assailants, the ones who beat me up in Kabwe, I am not able to reconcile with them. If the reconciliation is towards those who beat me up, I cannot reconcile with them before I hear why they beat me up and I can assure you that this is not the first time that people have attacked me”.

Lubinda stressed that he would continue to do the best to hold the party together.

“If it is to do with the party, and I heard you saying a lot of things about the party and so on, I want to assure you that ever since his Excellency president Edgar Chagwa Lungu, may his soul rest in peace, asked me to hold the fault in the Patriotic Front, I have done and will continue to do the best of my ability to hold everyone together and every decision that will proceed from myself in the running of this party, rest assured, will be done in the best interest of the party, all my decisions,” he added.

“Holding the position that I hold today is a privilege but also a duty which I owe not only to the members of the party but a duty that I owe the citizens of Zambia. Any disturbance in the Patriotic Front is a disturbance to the democracy of this country. I would like to therefore enjoin all of you my dear friends, to ensure that we hold together, in holding together, let us bear in mind that each one of us has a particular role, each one of us has a particular responsibility, [and] each one of us has a particular duty as is enshrined in our constitution. That is one thing that I would like all of us to respect and I will be the first to respect that”.

Lubinda further said he would address the nation regarding his attack in due time.

“The ordeal was not a pleasant one at all, it was a gruesome ordeal. However, I am to address the nation on that matter at an opportune time. The only thing I can say to you today, in appreciating your show of love to me, is to remind ourselves that every career has its own hazards. Unfortunately, for us in Zambia, we are also making violence become a hazard of politics, it not ought to be. Politics can be performed devoid of violence and we have to ask ourselves, why is this [this is] happening. My message to all of us this afternoon is that before we point at another person, let’s point at the man and the woman in the mirror. If every person points at the person in the mirror, and convinces the person in the mirror that we are going to get involved in politics which is devoid of violence, so shall it be,” said Lubinda.

“The people who engage in political violence don’t spring from Mars, they live amongst us and quite often, those people that we see confronting others do not act spontaneously, they plan. And quite often, those that are in the forefront are only but in the forefront, quite often, they are tools and every tool is controlled and very often the one who controls becomes invisible.

This is the reason why I appeal to all of us my fellow politicians that the onus is on all of us. There shall come a day soon, when I’ll address the nation on this matter, when I’ll address the press on this matter, when I’ll go into the details on this matter. All I can say to you now is that when the incidence occurred, I refrained from issuing a statement to the police; I did not say a word to the police. And you saw that the spokesperson of the police said that they had arrested a number of people and now they were inviting me to go and register my complaint, I certainly will do that”.

He added that he was beaten and injured but as at yesterday, a medical review confirmed that he had no fractures or physical injury except for a swelling on his gum, right knee and abrasions on his back.

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