INDEPENDENT and unpopular PF members of parliament are trying to blackmail President Edgar Lungu over Constitution [Amendment] Bill No. 10 of 2019, PF sources have revealed.
According to sources, the Head of State desperately wants the infamous bill which is threatened due to lack of the required numbers to pass in Parliament.
Sources say President Lungu is looking for support from wherever he can get it.
The sources warned that the ruling PF should brace itself for more divisions over Bill 10 because the route to its adoption would leave genuine PF members bruised.
“You see, me I sit in central committee meetings and I can tell you the President is being blackmailed over Bill 10. It’s a true story, don’t even doubt your source. This Bill 10 thing may actually be a perfect conduit for us to lose power to the UPND and there is genuine fear of that likelihood among us,” the source. “The boss is being blackmailed because people know that he desperately wants Bill 10 to go through. So all unpopular PF MPs who know that they can’t be readopted, have seen an opportunity in this and they are trying to make sure that they trade their vote for Bill 10 with an adoption. But what good does that do to the party in the general election?”
The sources said the cracks that have started to emerge in the ruling party would worsen because those PF members, young and old, who feel left out for a long time, won’t accept ‘leftovers’ just because the President wants to secure himself with the passing of Bill 10.
“What we are telling you is true. Some independent MPs are sitting in these caucus meetings. All of a sudden even useless MPs and Cabinet ministers, who we as a party even know have performed very poorly in the last five years, have become important just because of Bill 10. We don’t have the numbers in Parliament, the President wants Bill 10, so it’s a complicated situation but we will not accept to sacrifice the party’s electoral chances for the sake of Bill 10,” another MCC source said. “So abaice abengi mu party nabeshiba ificilecitika elyo nabafulwa kuti baisafilila mu Nsenga (many young people in the party know what’s going on and they are very upset so they can choose to spoil things) because they have followers and they have been working. And if you see our party has been weakened because of love for money. Apo ba Sata bafwila, abaice abaculile icipani are being vilified by those with deep pockets. Now if Bill 10 passes and the party loses the general election, what good does that do? Because, ukulanda ifishinka kwaliwama, Bill 10 will fail, people now know it. That’s why you are seeing fights even before the convention comes. The hard workers in the party know that they are on the verge of losing out after having worked so hard. Even in the President’s inner-circle, some of those ministers have got particular candidates they are backing for certain constituencies, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the event that we go the Bill 10 way in our adoption process.”
When contacted if he was one of those that have been promised an adoption on the ruling party provided he votes for Bill 10, Kitwe’s Chimwemwe independent member of parliament Mwila Mutale responded: “not to my knowledge boss.”
Asked if he was open to the idea of being adopted on the PF ticket, Mutale said: “And for now, I am not seeking any partisan adoption.”
And asked if he was open to an adoption on the PF ticket in 2021, Wusakili Independent member of parliament Pavyuma Kalobo said he was not concerned about next year’s elections but was concentrating on serving his people to the end of this term of office.
“I am not even thinking about it. Elections are next year. I am working to serve the people that elected me to finish this term, whether I will stand depends on the people that I am serving,” said Kalobo.