PATRIOTIC Front (PF) party Media Director Antonio Mourinho Mwanza says he can never join the ruling UPND even when given an opportunity to serve.
This follows minor setbacks by the opposition PF which has seen few of its individuals jumping ship and joining the ruling party. Mr Mwanza said his role is to ensure that the government is held accountable until it delivers.
“Those that are defecting are exercising their constitutional rights to belong to any Political party. I have two primary goals. To hold this government accountable on what they do and what they do not do as well as to make sure that the Patriotic Front emerges stronger in 2026 than what it was in 2021,” he said.
And Mr Mwanza has described the ruling UPND as a “Confused” Political Party without direction. He said the UPND is a political party where one does not know what the Government’s position is.
He said this can be seen from different statements that come from the UPND leadership on topical issues.
“There are too many statements coming from different officials. On the issue of fuel, President Hichilema said they removed subsidies in order to provide for free education, his Vice President said they removed subsidies because they have to increase in order to reduce.
“The Minister of Finance said there are no fuel subsidies, Minister for Southern Province Cornelius Mweetwa said they removed subsidies because it was one of the conditionalities given by IMF, Minister of Energy Peter Kapala said there are no subsidies but tax waivers and the Chief Government Spokesperson Chushi Kasanda said the increment of fuel was due to Russia Ukraine war,” he said.
Mr Mwanza said the truth of the matter is that subsidies were removed in 2013 during the reign of the late President Micheal Sata.
He said what is there are tax incentives on fuel which the current government is planning to remove in June this year. Mr Mwanza said that companies risk closing after June because the cost of doing business will be high.
He added that it is ironic that amidst the various challenges the country is facing, Cabinet has only sat Six (6) times in over 279 days.
“President Edgar Lungu and the PF Government cared for the people of Zambia and introduced Tax waivers on Fuel. The Ministry of Finance and energy have said they will not renew this tax waiver by June. There will be more problems in Zambia because the cost of doing business will be high,” he said.