LUBINDA HAS BETRAYED ECL BY STANDING FOR PRESIDENCY – JAY JAY  BANDA

LUBINDA HAS BETRAYED ECL BY STANDING FOR PRESIDENCY – JAY JAY

EMMANUEL Jay Banda says Given Lubinda has betrayed late former president Edgar Lungu by contesting for the PF presidency.

He says Lubinda was appointed as PF acting president because he agreed to only being a kingmaker, just like Lungu was.

And Mumbi Phiri says she is surprised at how people can be insincere after publicly making an agreement.

Speaking on Emmanuel Mwamba Verified, Friday, Banda, who is former Petauke Independent MP, said Lungu appointed Lubinda as acting PF president because he agreed to not join the PF presidential race.

“Honourable Mwamba, we need to call a spade a spade. Those of us who were very close with ECL know where the confusion is coming from. When he was moving through the provinces, he used to share some roadmap for the party.

We sat with him and asked why he had given the position of acting president to the vice. He said, ‘I can only leave this acting position to someone who doesn’t want to aspire for president. That’s why I have given it to Lubinda, because I’m grooming him to be a father figure of the party. He’s supposed to be a kingmaker like me.

If I’m not going to stand, I will be a kingmaker.’ Even when he was in South Africa, ECL maintained to leave the powers with Lubinda knowing that he wouldn’t join the race,” Banda said.

“If ECL knew that Lubinda would join the race for presidency, he wasn’t going to be given the position of acting president. This is betrayal that Lubinda is doing to ECL because he was given that position to be a kingmaker, to unite everyone. But right now, because of Lubinda’s betrayal, there’s no kingmaker in the party because the kingmaker has joined the race. So I’m calling for Lubinda not to betray ECL, to resign from the race, and be the kingmaker which ECL left him”.

He called on Lubinda to remain a “kingmaker” and withdraw from the race if he loved Lungu.

“I’m calling upon those true PF members who were close to ECL to sit down Lubinda to say, ‘if you were in the race, ECL was not going to leave you as acting president.’ If you remember, Ambassador Mwamba, when you and your colleagues went to the secretariat to pay, Honourable [Lubinda] didn’t pay the K200,000 because he sat down with ECL and agreed to be a kingmaker. But today, in the absence of ECL, Lubinda wants to go against that agreement between him and ECL. Be sincere and tell the truth.

If he can betray ECL before he’s buried, what [more] when we bury him? I have tried to tell him that, ‘Lubinda, you are a father figure, can you unite people?’ I’ve talked to him but we are not seeing the unity. If he loves ECL and the party, let him remain a kingmaker. ECL trusted him,” said Banda.

And Phiri, who is the former PF deputy secretary general, said it was a lack of integrity for one to do that.

“Let us not pretend, when Lungu was giving some of these positions to the people, there were some agreements which were made, and publicly so. I have been surprised at how people are insincere. You agree with someone and when they die, you change. For me, that’s a lack of integrity.

I will not mention people’s names for now, otherwise, it’s very frustrating. And don’t be surprised when I get expelled because of this phone call, because some people want us to put water in our mouths. I feel for my colleagues who are in prison. They are relying on us, they have hope in us, but we continue praying,” said Phiri.

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