By Fanny Kalonda
PF member Bizwell Mutale says the party has chosen a non-rebrandable team in its rebranding process.
Mutale disclosed that PF officials only had one goal, “to reject president Edgar Lungu”.
“I was told by one of the officials and someone sent me a WhatsApp to show me that ‘you will be alone if you continue to support the president. You will be a pawn’,” he said.
Featuring on MUVI TV’s The Assignment programme on Sunday, Mutale said because of this and other factors, the party could not be rebranded in its current form.
“The attitude and the character that we are portraying, we behave like we are still in government. If you ask me, we have not changed at all. We have not moved at inch. Actually, we are even sinking because of the utterances and attitude which does not reflect on the party rebranding,” he said.
“We have remained a distraction to each other. We have remained arrogant. We need to reform as a party. I was denied the resource to mobilise the party. We have carried a non-rebrandable team which is advocating in front. We are saying, ‘let’s rebrand the party’, but non-rebrandable members have continued shielding the party. Transparency is not what the party stands for. We cannot rebrand at the stage we are. We need to reform. We had no interest of the party and of the president. The party had so many confusions which I cannot say because it would embarrass my party.”
Mutale further said the PF should ensure the presidential choice involved the people’s voice and choice.
He charged that a certain leadership group within the party had a goal to ensure former president Edgar Lungu did not win the general election.
“There is need to realign the party as it has total confusion and need to be united. The party needs to change the notion of behaving like they are still in power when they are not. It has always been disgruntled. Each one for themselves. We are arrogant and we have not accepted defeat,” said Mutale.
“People had personal interests and not interests of the president or the party. What we promote as members is the president, but it was not what was happening. It was parallel. I will give you an example, I went on a campaign trail and our own official members told members not to listen to me. They only had one goal, to reject president Edgar Lungu. I was told by one of the officials and someone sent me a WhatsApp to show me that, you will be alone if you continue to support the president. You will be a pawn. I looked at it and I was not bothered because the president was a president of the party.”