KAPIRI MPOSHI UPND member of parliament Stanley Kakubo says he is not for sale at any cost.
Kakubo, who is UPND vice-chairman for the finance and economic affairs committee, also asserts that he would rather retire from politics, than join the PF.
In yesterday’s News Diggers, PF secretary general Davies Mwila was quoted saying UPND members of parliament in Stanley Kakubo (Kapiri Mposhi), Rasfold Bulaya (Mpongwe) and Aubrey Bambi Kapalasa (Katuba) are sellouts who should not be trusted by UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, as they have been double-dealing with the ruling party.
Kakubo allayed Mwila’s assertion, at a media briefing held at the UPND secretariat in Lusaka.
“Mr Mwila is attributing me to being a friend of the Patriotic Front. I want to state very clearly this morning that there is absolutely no friendship between me and the Patriotic Front. We are UPND in Kapiri Mposhi and how I began in the UPND is that president [Hakainde] Hichilema noticed my natural attributes of a leader,” Kakubo said. “It is not President Lungu who noticed. I’m a fully sponsored UPND MP, backed by the people of Kapiri Mposhi and the traditional leadership there. We are fully united towards the cause of the UPND.”
He added: “as an UPND MP, I’m not a commodity.”
“I’m a Christian and as a child of God, I want to tell the people of Zambia that I have never ever had a conversation with the secretary general of the Patriotic Front, Mr Mwila. I don’t have his phone number and I have never spoken to him in person. If he has my number, thank you very much but no thanks. I’m not for sale at any cost. I have chosen the Zambian people and wherever they will go, I’ll go. If we must fail in this mission, we shall fail together. But I believe that we shall rise as a country,” Kakubo explained.
The lawmaker, who was flanked by Central Province UPND youth chairperson Milner Mwanakampwe, further indicated that there is no PF in Kapiri Mposhi.
“The people of Kapiri are solidly behind the UPND and president Hichilema. Even if I were to leave the UPND today, I would rather go into retirement or join any other party, except the PF. Let this be a resounding warning to the PF secretary general…He has never called me and let him not even waste his time to call me,” said Kakubo. “If he continues to talk about me, I’ll never respond to him. This is my final response to him! But I’m making it clear to him that I have no time for PF. I have no time for him (Mwila), because we differ very strongly on principle. My principles as a politician are very clear, that of public service – just like my president. Our intention is to serve the people of Zambia with dignity.”