By Ulande Nkomesha,
PF member of the central committee Davies Mwila says party president Edgar Lungu wanted to leave his position but the central committee pleaded with him to stay on for a while.
And Mwila says the central committee’s decision to hold the general conference in June 2021 is final because the party does not want to end up like MMD.
The former PF secretary general was commenting on PF member Kelvin Kaunda’s remarks that it was not in the best interest of the party for Lungu to continue as PF president and that the general membership of the party was not pleased with the decision to hold the general conference in June next year.
In an interview, Mwila said the central committee pleaded with Lungu to remain president because they did not want to leave a vacuum in the party.
“It is a process, three of us indicated that we are going to leave at an appropriate time. Me and Mr Mukupa have left, so we only have about six months then president Edgar Chagwa Lungu will leave. Actually, it is us who have told him to remain, he wanted to leave, but we don’t want to leave a vacuum.
As central committee members, we pleaded for him to remain for a while. We know politics, Mr Kaunda doesn’t know politics and moreover, they should know that this party has to survive and we are not going to have leaders that will destroy the party,” he said.
“Moreover, let him leave this matter to the provincial chairman, he is not the spokesperson of the province, he is just the vice chairman of the youth. These are policy matters, they should be left to the provincial chairman.
Provincial chairman, he was in a meeting, he represented Lusaka, let him speak out, why is he telling the young people to speak? We have to manage ourselves, we have to manage the party. The decision of the central committee is final, until we meet after maybe two, three months, that is when we will look at this matter.
Every decision that we are arriving at, it is in the interest of the party. We are going to have different views but at the end of the day we have to do the right thing.”
And Mwila said the party did not want to end up like MMD by rushing to hold a convention immediately after a loss of the general election.
He stated that Lungu was actually not actively participating in politics because he was preparing to step aside so that the party could elect a new leader.
“They are just in a hurry. Let us not be in a hurry and we are not rushing anywhere as a party. We don’t want to be like MMD, we have the history, that Kuanda who is talking about not having a convention in June, he doesn’t have the history, he doesn’t know anything.
Because that is how MMD got finished, they rushed to the general conference, they elected a leader and they started going into courts. We don’t want when president Lungu steps aside then honourable Lubinda starts acting. Others will start questioning, ‘who appointed him’?
‘Who did that’? President Edgar Lungu was elected by the general conference, so legally he is in office. Even though he is not even actively participating in politics because he is preparing to step aside so that we can elect a new leader,” Mwila said.
Meanwhile, Mwila disclosed that the general conference in June would cost about K8 million.
“We have to raise money for the general conference, the general conference will cost us not less than K8 million. So let them be patient, 2026 is very far, we still have four years and nine months. It is a long way.
Let us be cautious with the way we do things. They are only interested in the position of president, us, we are not interested in that. We want the party to survive beyond 2026.
As a party we have said that we need to identify someone who is mature, who has integrity, who is sellable, who will win us 2026 elections. We don’t want to have a president then we will be a laughing stock, people will be laughing at us as if we were not there.
We are there to guide, we have not left the party. So let them be patient, the decision of the central committee is the right decision,” said Mwila.