PF WILL HOLD A CONVENTION UNDER MY WATCH – LUBINDA

PF WILL HOLD A CONVENTION UNDER MY WATCH – LUBINDA

WITH or without a paper, the PF is going to the convention to elect its leaders under my watch, says Given Lubinda.

Lubinda has further appealed to the Electoral Commission of Zambia to extend the voter registration exercise to about two months.

Earlier this week, Robert Chabinga obtained a court order to close the PF Secretariat until further notice. Chabinga also directed that no party meetings shall take place anywhere in the country unless sanctioned by himself and PF faction Secretary General Morgan Ng’ona. He further declared that no PF convention will take place.

But Lubinda, who is the acting PF president and aspiring to succeed the late Edgar Lungu, said PF was in the hearts of its members and not in courts of law.

“The PF as a party is not a certificate, it has members. So if somebody claims to be holding on to the certificate and they say they will not hold a convention, what they’re literally saying is that the certificate will not go to the convention. But we’ve never said the certificate should go to the convention, the ones who go to the convention are the people. So here in Livingstone, the delegates are here, and the delegates are resolved to go to the convention. So with or without a paper, the PF is going to the convention,” Lubinda said.

“The PF is not in the court, the PF is in the hearts of the people, and for as long as the people who claim or who know that they go by the name PF, they will be at the PF convention, no matter what name they are called by. They will go and hold the convention even without calling themselves PF. They are PF, and I want to emphasise, with or without Chabinga’s threats, the Patriotic Front is going to the convention to elect its leader and to elect members of the Central Committee, and they will do that under my watch. Whether Chabinga, whether Hakainde Hichilema, whether Jack Mwiimbu, whether IG Musamba likes it or not, the PF is going to have a convention”.

Lubinda toured Southern Province and held several meetings ahead of the party’s elective convention.

And in an interview after a closed-door meeting with Southern Province and Livingstone PF leaders, Thursday, Lubinda said the newly registered first-time voters are the ones who will kick out the UPND.

“I want to appeal to all young people. 2026 is your opportunity to vote for your government. The government you have now is not your government because you did not take part in voting for them. Now you have your first opportunity. Go and exercise your right,” Lubinda said.

He added that the PF was going to the convention to prepare for 2026.

“Because of that, I have issued instructions. I issued these instructions a few weeks ago that every bona fide member of the Patriotic Front must get actively involved in encouraging our people to get and renew their voters’ cards, and especially for the young people to go and register. Let us go and register. HH and UPND would like very few people to register because they know that the massive new voters are the ones who will kick them out. So, PF members, let us make sure we register as many people as possible,” Lubinda said.

He further appealed to the ECZ to extend the voter registration exercise to about two months.

“I am happy that the ECZ extended the voter registration exercise, but I am very unhappy that they only extended it for two weeks. Two weeks is not enough. If last week they’d only registered 16 percent of the targeted 3.5 million new registered voters, even by the end of this week or even the end of next week, they will not have gone to half. We would like them to extend this for no less than two months because it is a right for every citizen. Over and above that, as they extend the registration period, they must make sure that all the equipment is in service and that they are in a visible condition. It’s no use to go and set up a registration centre when the equipment is not working,” Lubinda said.

“We all know that before a person registers as a voter, they must carry a green National Registration Card. Now, to put registration centres scattered in the constituency and yet you only have the NRC registration office at the Boma is not good enough. Can they also decentralise the registration of NRCs so that they can register as a voter? Our young people will find it easy if they go to the same place, they get an NRC in one office, and go next door and get their voter’s card. That way, you’ll be able to capture more citizens”.

Asked as to what he has observed on his campaign trail, Lubinda said the PF delegates are eager to vote for him, adding that he has administered the PF for four years and was experienced enough to guide the party into 2026.

“I am not a newcomer, I’m not a new entrant. I have been acting president of the Patriotic Front for four years,” he said.

Lubinda said PF members and Zambians should not be comparing practical experiences with promises.

He added, “I am available now and I’m available for the future”.

On the UPND claims that they will win the 2026 elections, Lubinda said the UPND’s weakness is their overconfidence.

“I am very happy that they are so confident because their confidence is actually a weakness. And I’d like to encourage them to continue to live in a glass house, to believe that they are living in utopia. We are living on the ground and I can assure you that it is not up to them, it is up to the real opposition, and the real opposition is the people. The PF is not the real opposition. The real opposition are those who are going 22 hours without electricity. It is those farmers who delivered maize in March and have not been paid up to November. Those are the real opposition, so UPND can go ahead and continue dreaming,” said Lubinda.

News Diggers