Mweetwa shifts camp to Lusaka to defend HH
By Ben Mbangu in Choma
UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa says the ruling party is ready to defend President Hakainde Hichilema at all cost from those insulting him.
Addressing a gathering in Siamaambo and Batoka ward in Choma Constituency where he also handed over three community boreholes, Mweetwa who is also Southern Province minister said it was now clear that the opposition was not attacking the new dawn government but President Hichilema as an individual.
“If you don’t often see us in the constituency, it’s because we have shifted to Lusaka to face the PF who have taken a deliberate move to continue attacking and insulting President Hakainde Hichilema despite all the good things we have done as government. We are ready to defend the President because if we allow the opposition to talk without answering them people will think what they are saying is the truth,” Mweetwa said.
He urged citizens to thank God for revealing His greatness by making President Hichilema Head of State despite the opposition political parties prophesying that he would never lead the country.
“Before the general elections last year, they were saying HH will never rule Zambia and now that he is President again they have gathered and started insulting him. It is very clear that it’s not his government they are not happy about but him as an individual. We don’t want people to insult HH. No wonder I have shifted camp to Lusaka,” Mweetwa said.
He wondered how the opposition could expect the government to deliver all the campaign promises in a short period of time.
“Even if you ask teachers they will tell you that it is not possible for them to predict that a grade one pupil will fail the exam in grade seven unless through an exam. So why are these critics saying we have failed as new dawn government when we still have four solid year mandate?” he wondered.
And Mweetwa said the UPND would win both the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections on the Copperbelt which fell vacant following the nullification of the election of PF’s Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji by court.
“As a party we are ready not just to go and compete but to win both seats. President HH won in the Copperbelt resoundingly and these two by-elections presents an opportunity to equalise the parliamentary votes with the presidential one,” he said.
Mweetwa attributed his party’s loss of the two seats to PF in 2021 to violence, intimidation and corruption adding that now the environment is free.
“Nowadays if you are beaten it’s in the sleep not in politics because there is rule of law. Violence is gone and people of Kwacha and Kabushi will vote freely,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mweetwa disclosed that government would next year electrify schools as well as health facilities in rural areas in Choma district to stop both teachers and health workers from abandoning their stations in preference to urban facilities.