GOVT HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER PF MATTERS – LUBINDA
PF faction Acting President Given Lubinda says government has no authority over PF matters.
Lubinda adds that Cornelius Mweetwa’s remarks, that the expulsion of some PF MPs was a nullity shows how “arrogant and drunk” in power the UPND government is.
On Friday, Mweetwa, who is Chief Government Spokesperson said the expulsion of the PF members of parliament who voted for Bill 7 was a nullity, stating that Lubinda’s directive should be treated as ‘mere politicking’.
Commenting on this in an interview, Saturday, Lubinda said Mweetwa was a nonentity in the PF, hence had no say in the party’s internal matters.
“Now, the only thing that I appreciate is that Mweetwa is being morally upright in so far as doing [right] to people that they have paid, people that they induced to vote for them. Obviously, he can’t just watch them being expelled and doesn’t show sympathy. All he is doing is showing sympathy to those people because he knows that they used them. The UPND used those members of parliament in their pursuit of their criminal enterprise of amending the Constitution using a criminal process, an unconstitutional process. Obviously, they deserve sympathy from UPND and that is the sympathy that Mweetwa is trying to register to those people. But as far as the PF is concerned, sorry, he has no say, he has no authority whatsoever, he is a nonentity,” Lubinda said.
“He can say whatever he wants about UPND, he can say whatever he can about Parliament and the executive but sorry, when he talks about PF, he is wasting his time. He has nothing to say about the Patriotic Front. So, let him assure his friends that because they aided the rule to conclude a criminal activity, they are going to be protected, yes. Let them (UPND) protect them but not protect them from being expelled from the PF because they have no say in the matter. He is a nonentity in as far as the PF is concerned, he cannot say anything about the PF. He is something where he is known, where he has influence but in the PF he is a nonentity. They (expelled MPs) will not be able to exercise the rights of any PF member. They are no longer members of PF; they can do whatever they want but they will not have the privileges and rights of a PF member. They can go around calling themselves PF but that doesn’t make them PF. What makes a person PF is carrying the rights and privileges of membership”.
Lubinda wondered how a UPND member could declare PF expulsions a nullity.
“I wouldn’t expect that a person who belongs to Manchester United can go to say, ‘no, the coach of Man City must not field this player’. What kind of anarchy is that? How can a member of the UPND tell the PF not to expel or declare the expulsions a nullity? He is not a member of the PF; how can anyone think like that? It just shows you that these fellows are so arrogant, they are so drunk with power. Extremely drunk with power that they think that they can interfere in the processes of independent entities. That’s not how [you] govern, it’s just a sign of arrogance and a sign of misunderstanding of what their role is. This goes to show you that we are being governed by ignorance, by people who don’t understand what it means to govern. The government has no say whatsoever on what voluntary organisations do amongst themselves,” he said.
“The government’s role is to ensure that the Penal Code is not abrogated. Can that man (Mweetwa), use his head and explain to us what law has the PF breached which can encourage the government to get involved? This is a totally private matter. I know for a fact that the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature will ensure that those MPs that we have expelled from the party continue to occupy spaces in Parliament, that I know for a fact but that is not what I said. What I said was that we have expelled them from the PF. How will Mr Mweetwa ensure that those people continue to be members of the PF? How will he enforce that? Will he come and force those people to come and attend our meetings? For once, the man should be able to say things in the right perspective and not show the arrogance that they have in the manner in which they are governing the country”.
Further, Lubinda said Mweetwa was showing the country that the Executive had taken over all institutions.
“He is simply showing us that the Executive in Zambia has taken over all institutions and they think that they can also take over private entities such as political parties. Pretty soon, Mr Mweetwa will tell you that they will even determine when you should wake up and when you should sleep because they are in government. Pretty soon, they will tell you that they have the right to tell you which school you should go to and which school you should not go to because they are a government. Very soon, they will tell you that they have the power to determine your friends. What kind of thinking can that be?” wondered Lubinda.
News Diggers
Correct Mr President, Hon Given Lubinda, the self confessed instigator of Tribal Hate Speech, Cornelius Mweetwa, has no rights whatsoever to reverse the decisions of the Patriotic Front.
The Rebel 35 are expelled from the Patriotic Front. They can join UPND if they want..They can also join Robert Chabinga.
And write to the Speaker informing her of the Expulsions tomorrow.
The Rebel 35 are not wanted in the Patriotic Front. Let them go.
Bo Lubinda, it is true that Mweetwa is drunk with power for now, but he stated a fact which you can not skirt away from. You do not have the mandate to fire PF members, because PF as an entity has Chabinga as president and only Chabinga can exercise those powers for now. As long as that does not sink in your head squarely, you will continue living in dream land. The first step for you to get out of that slumber is to accept the fact and only then will you start to come up with mitigating factors to counter that, but as long as you are living in that false comfort that you are in charge you will be blown with the wind
There is total confusion in PF. First of all after Sata died Lungu hijacked the presidency from Scott. After Lungu died no election was held. Then Sampa hijacked PF, then Chabinga counter hijacked PF. Now Lubinda claims that he is the leader. Since I have no access to the Registrar’s records to know who the PF office bearers are, I am completely baffled.
Mr. Given Lubinda has played a major role in the decline of PF. During the debate on the eligibility of the late Mr. Lungu for the 2021 elections, Mr. Lubinda was in the forefront saying Mr. Lungu was a formidable candidate and that is why the opposition was scared of him. We all knew that Mr. Lungu didnot qualify but the Constitutional Court went ahead and gave him a third bite at the cherry. We, the Zambian people, spoke in very clear terms and dismissed Mr. Lungu and PF with almost a 1 million vote difference.
After the August 2021 elections, Mr. Lubinda as acting president of PF was given the mandate of organising a convention to elect new leaders. However, he chose to mark time even after prospective candidates ( about eight of them) paid a whooping K200,000 fee and no convention has been held todate.
After Mr. Lungus “comeback” and the Constitutional Court revisiting its dubious 2021 ruling (Mr. Lungu had actually threatened the Constitutional Court not to be adventurous and immulate the Kenyan High court which had nullified the presidential elections in that country), Mr. Lubinda insisted Mr. Lungu would be on the 2026 ballot as PF’s presidential candidate inspite of the Constitutional Court ruling he was disqualified to stand for future presidential elections.
Mr. Lubinda loves to play the macho guy (which seems to appeal to the PF base). He should learn to strategise instead of walking into traps with his eyes wide open but not seeing. It is like he is hell bent on destroying PF. Is he some kind of Trojan Horse?
The situation of PF requires sober minds, people who can maintain their cool under extreme pressure. With the expulsions, Mr. Lubinda, either consciously or unconsciously, is contributing to the demise of PF. At this rate, PF will be but a footnote in the political history of Zamnia after the 2026 elections.
Lubinda talks more with heart than head. Emotional and noisy Dude. You rightly describe him: he likes playing “Macho Guy”, ichi ntinya.
Even UNIP will outlive PF, especially after 2026.
Arrogance and PF whichever faction are inseparable. That’s what has killed PF and there is no PF which can win an election now and in future, that time is long gone. The only thing these guys can manage to do together is to bury Lungu wherever they will bury him and that very time will also be the burial day for PF. Mwila already said it, PF is dead, it’s in the mortuary together with its former president awaiting for burial.