THE United Party for National Development says PF media director Sunday Chanda should stop hallucinating and entertaining thoughts that Zambians can make a mistake of giving his party another mandate to govern beyond 2021.
In a statement, UPND deputy national youth chairman Gilbert Liswaniso said the UPND leadership was reluctant to comment on Chanda’s illusions because his tools of analysis were defective and could not be relied upon.
He said the PF media director’s assertion that the UPND have no chance of winning the 2021 general elections was laughable and only qualifies as a political joke under the current dispensation.
“We in the UPND further remind the Zambian people that this is the same Chanda who, as a mouthpiece of the then ruling MMD, projected himself as ‘Comical Ali’ against the PF in the run-up to the 2011 general elections,” Liswaniso said.
He said Chanda could only best be described as a political turncoat because as soon as his favourite party, the MMD, was ejected from power, he was already begging for employment from the PF, the party he despised with so much vigour and valour.
“We expect Comical Ali to be sober and learn from past experiences. He is keen to disparage us today but he will be at his lowest tomorrow when he starts another job hunt. We feel extremely sorry for the PF media director that he appears to have serious challenges learning from his mistakes of the past. We encourage him to take a moment of reflection on what happened in 2011 when the MMD government was removed from power,” he said.
Liswaniso added that Chanda appeared to be in a state of mental weariness to believe that his party’s popularity was growing based on the number of by-elections won in UPND strongholds and defections to the ruling PF regime.
He said Chanda should know better how the MMD used this defective analysis but the people were resolved to send them packing.
“We therefore advise Chanda to stop telling the nation lies that the PF regime is gaining popularity when the opposite is the truth on the ground. Our true assessment as a party is that the boat’s sinking will be worse than that of the Titanic,” he said.
“If we may ask, who today doesn’t know the amount of bribery by the PF regime in every by-election, including those at local government level? We are alert to the fact that the PF is now capitalising on poverty-stricken citizens by giving money and other handouts in exchange for votes.”
Liswaniso recalled that each time there was a by-election, Zambians witness the PF regime moving in with donations and distributing mealie-meal to hungry citizens through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU).
“How can you celebrate a victory emanating from vote buying and claim you gaining popularity? The PF media director should come to terms with the fact that in a fair and free election, the PF regime today can struggle to beat even a newcomer in the political arena. We urge Chanda to stop living in denial like he did under the MMD,” Liswaniso said.
He said the UPND equally wonders why Chanda should be very excited about induced defections through bribes to the ruling party as he knows better that even under the MMD era, defections were stage-managed to hoodwink and exaggerate the popularity of the ruling party.
“We can bear testimony as a party that many of our members have been approached before and enticed to resign in exchange for colossal sums of money. But not all fall prey to such machinations and bribery. We are very convinced that Chanda still remembers what he saw during the 2011 general elections where the same people they bribed to defect used the power of their vote to send selfish leaders back to the street. Chanda can’t pretend to have lost memory of this fact,” Liswaniso said.
He further urged Chanda to stop “mocking” Zambians by claiming that the PF has done enough to unite citizens.
“What is Chanda taking Zambians for? Are we going to be blamed for thinking that the media director may not be himself? We say this because the citizens of this country are fully aware that the PF regime has destroyed the unity this country has enjoyed since independence,” he said.
“This country has never been so divided than this time under the PF rule where leaders are on record preaching tribalism and messages of hatred in all political campaigns in order to win votes and remain in power to continue plundering the resources of this country. Is this what Chanda can qualify as uniting the nation?”
Liswaniso said Zambia was founded on the principle of ‘One Zambia, One Nation’, which had unfortunately been destroyed for self-preservation.
He said it was shameful that Chanda could lie to the nation in the most amateurish manner when his party has been preaching divisive messages to Zambians.
“But what can we expect from Chanda? His party thrives on lies and he can’t be any better. We in the UPND are convinced the Zambians will not make a mistake of voting for a regime that has destroyed all systems of good governance. Ba Chanda, you may continue to hallucinate as the decisive 2021 elections gets closer each day,” said Liswaniso.