By Ulande Nkomesha,
UPND Choma MP Cornelius Mweetwa at Parliament building for the opening of Parliament by President Hakainde Hichilema on September 10, 2021 – Picture by Tenson Mkhala
UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa says it is not possible for the PF to change after exhibiting arrogance whilst in government.
Commenting on remarks made by PF acting president Given Lubinda that the party lost elections because former ministers and other party members became big headed and that was why the party was rebranding, Mweetwa said Zambians had lost trust in the PF.
“PF can never change, it is not possible, it is too late to change. They have been advised for a very long period of time and they brushed off all the advice with arrogance, defiance and violence. That is how they responded to the way they were being advised.
Attacking media houses, shutting down radio stations, shutting down TV stations, shutting down tabloids like Post Newspaper. Such was the impunity and stubbornness of PF. Now if they were advised for such a long time that they had to discover it through the ballot, who can trust them? The people of Zambia have lost trust in them,” Mweetwa said.
He added that there was no salvation for the PF.
“Honourable Lubinda does not need to tell us that they became big headed, no! We told them even on the floor of the House at the expense of putting on the line personal relations, we told them that ‘you colleagues in the Patriotic Front, you have become big headed.
You can no longer listen to the people, you have become arrogant because of the power you are enjoying, and whether you like it or not in 2021 the people of Zambia can vote you out’. Such statements are not new to the ears of PF and indeed to the people of Zambia,” Mweetwa said.
“So to come round now after being removed from office to say ‘we became big headed’, who are they telling? It is us who told them. If they had become big headed, defiant and arrogant, there is no guarantee whatsoever that they can change.
There is no salvation for them. It is like after the day of judgement, then you say ‘I am now ready to repent, so that I can garner for paradise’, it will be too late for all the sinners who have been sinning in the manner PF were sinning against the people of Zambia. PF’s judgement was on the 12th, period!”
Mweetwa said Lubinda was mocking the electorate by implying that they only voted for the UPND to punish the PF.
“Now honourable Lubinda also stated that the people of Zambia did not vote for UPND, rather they were just punishing PF. I think those statements are a clear testimony that the PF are in denial, that they lost elections and lost democratically.
You see those statements are of no substance, they cannot be substantiated whatsoever because his contention has no backing. If the people of Zambia did not vote for UPND for instance, if it was just a punishment for PF, there could have been likely scenarios.
Number one, you would expect that there would have been outright apathy to demonstrate that we are not happy with you, but we still like you to be around leadership. That should have been the attitude of the people,” he said.
“The people would most likely have voted anyhow, with anyone. Sean Tembo for instance would not have been recording zeros. The voters could have just been throwing votes around the political spectrum away from the Patriotic Front. Those votes were put in a basket, let not honourable Lubinda joke around with the people of Zambia. So we think that is a further act of arrogance to the voters, trying to show that the voters do not know what they were doing.”
He said the PF threatened the stability of the nation.
“People of Zambia are very clear, in case they haven’t yet found out reasons, additional to the economy which is biting everyone, number one reason why the PF were voted out of power is threatening the stability of the nation and its peace.
That should be very clear in their minds if they didn’t know. Introducing an alien method to Zambia’s politics and unprecedented political violence, cadreism and then you ice it up with corruption. Lack of freedoms, this is a no-go area, you partition a country into no-go areas.
Then you now come and say we have changed, which Zambian can give a second chance to people who were declaring a country to say this is a no-go area for this individual, for this party?” questioned Mweetwa.
Leave a Reply