I’M NOT AWARE OF PLANS TO SELECT AN OPPOSITION LEADER IN TWO WEEKS – GIVEN LUBINDA

I’M NOT AWARE OF PLANS TO SELECT AN OPPOSITION LEADER IN TWO WEEKS – LUBINDA

PF faction acting President Given Lubinda says he is not aware of the decision to elect a presidential candidate for the United Front in two weeks.

Lubinda also says the party wants to inform, not consult, the Lungu family about PF succession matters so that they are part and parcel of the process.

Meanwhile, Lubinda says the party has not recovered yet from Lungu’s demise and Miles Sampa’s takeover of the PF in 2023.

Socialist Party leader Dr Fred M’membe recently announced that the United Front, an alliance comprising SP, PF, Tonse, UNIP, UKA and other parties, would have a presidential candidate in two weeks.

In an interview, Thursday, Lubinda expressed ignorance of such a decision as he has not attended the last few United Front meetings.

“I’m afraid to say that I did not attend the last few meetings of the United Front, so I’m not aware of that decision,” he said.

And when asked to comment on remarks by Mporokoso PF MP Brian Mundubile that South Africa-based entrepreneur Willah Mudolo must declare his presidential intentions to avoid confusion in PF, Lubinda again expressed ignorance, saying he doesn’t know who Mudolo is.

“I don’t know Mudolo. I have not spoken to him, he has not spoken to me and it is not to me that he would register his interests,” Lubinda said.

Meanwhile, speaking when he appeared on Millennium Radio, Thursday, Lubinda said the party was not consulting but wanted to inform the Lungu family on the party’s succession matters.

“I don’t think anybody said we are going to consult. We did not use the term consult, no. We said that we are going to inform them. We are going to sit down with them and inform them that this is our plan. We are not going to consult as though we are going to get permission from them, no. We want them to be part and parcel of this process. That is the former first family, and the former first family that led the Patriotic Front through the late president Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and the fact that he was our leader and his mortal remains have not yet been buried, have not been interred, we are duty bound to [go and] speak at least [to] the former first lady to say this is our course of action,” he said.

Commenting on how the party is doing currently, Lubinda revealed that the party had not recovered yet from Lungu’s death and the October 24, 2023 “coup”.

“We are not yet out of the woods, and we have been befallen by two major calamities. First is the incident that took place on October 24, 2023, the incident of the bloodless coup which was occasioned by some players in government in collusion with some members of the Patriotic Front. That was the first calamity, and we don’t seem to have survived from that yet. The second was the unfortunate sad demise of president Edgar Chagwa Lungu, president of the Patriotic Front and chairman of the Tonse Alliance. Those are the two major calamities that we underwent, and we haven’t fully recovered from those two yet,” he revealed.

“We are, as you know, still mourning the passing of our dear departed president because of the fact that the burial has been delayed. As you are well aware, a funeral only ends or at least the end only starts when you bury; before you bury, you are still in mourning. So we have been in a state of mourning for all this long, ever since June 5 this year, and we also haven’t gotten out of the woods with regards to the coup that I referred to because matters have been protracting in court. And up to now, we haven’t gotten to the end of it yet, but generally speaking, members of the party are holding together under these circumstances”.

And Lubinda said the opposition were working to bridge their differences.

“My appeal yesterday before releasing the communiqué from the meeting was that all of us, all opposition political parties in Zambia, must endeavour to work together. And I’m happy that I have been a part of the process in Tonse and part of the process in the United Opposition Front. Our idea is that as we approach the 2026 elections, we must work in solidarity, and we cannot do that unless we put in work. And it takes a lot of work for people to work together, it takes a lot of work. The reasons why we are different political parties is because we have different ideas on how to govern the country, we have different approaches, we have different policies,” he said.

“Now we are working at making sure that we can reduce the differences so that we can grow our commonalities. Because it’s the commonalities that bring us together, and of course, people would want us to do this as a magic wand, but it doesn’t work that way. You don’t force relationships, you work towards them. You must build them, and it takes time. So these skirmishes that you are talking about for me are a part of the process of arriving at consensus, as long as these skirmishes are not drawing us apart. If these skirmishes are actually just giving us an opportunity to try and understand each other better, they are good, and we must utilise them so that when we come together, we are going to come together as people who have known each other’s weaknesses, each other’s preferences. Then we can hold together as a solid, formidable opposition grouping”.

Lubinda said the country was better with a united opposition.

“I have not yet heard any party that says they are not willing to unite. I think that all political parties are ready to unite. The only difference is that there are some small differences in opinion and differences in approach. But all opposition political parties that I have spoken to are willing to work together. All of us see the value of working together. All of us are putting in efforts to try and work together. But like I said, citizens must not expect that we can just wake up one day and say, ‘alright, now we are working together.’ It doesn’t happen that way,” said Lubinda.

“Even in marriage, you start with courtship. That courtship is the period that we get to know each other before you say, ‘now, we are ready to live together.’ So those issues that you are referring to are simply issues of differences, and we must resolve those differences as quickly as possible. All of us are agreed that we are better off, [that] Zambia is better off with a united opposition and not with a fragmented opposition, especially as we enter into the 2026 electoral calendar. We ought to enter 2026 as a united opposition”.

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