UPND shall have a field day in 2026 in absence of strong opposition – Mtayachalo
By Fanny Kalonda
CHAMA North PF member of parliament Yotam Mtayachalo says Zambians would be shooting themselves in the foot if they allow the opposition to die.
He says PF should not entertain disunity to lay its ugly face in the party, as that shall spell doom for the country because the UPND shall have a field day in 2026 in absence of a strong opposition.
“We shall not allow some individuals to destroy the Patriotic Front for selfish reasons more importantly that the former ruling party is the biggest opposition party in Zambia which is offering effective checks and balances to the ruling UPND government and as such it is good for our thriving democracy. The people of Zambia would be shooting themselves in the foot if they allow the opposition to die therefore they have a responsibility to protect their hard fought democratic dispensation,” he said in a statement. “Therefore, I want to make it abundantly very clear that we should not entertain disunity to lay its ugly face in the PF because of the presidency as that shall spell doom for the country because the UPND shall have a field day in 2026 in absence of the strong opposition.”
Mtayachalo said divisive talk of only the true greens to aspire for PF presidency is retrogressive and should be “condemned in strongest terms by all Zambians”.
He explained that such unwarranted and misguided statements have the potential to destroy the party.
“It must also be realised that UNIP and MMD are now in political doldrums because of selfishness which was displayed by some individuals and as such we shall not allow the same to happen to the PF which of course made mistakes but equally scored a lot of successes,” Mtayachalo said. “The divisive talk of only the true greens to aspire for the PF presidency is retrogressive and should be condemned in strongest possible terms by all well-meaning Zambians because such unwarranted and misguided statements have the potential to destroy the party.”
He said leaders preaching hate speech would not get votes from his constituency.
“Therefore, such leaders who are preaching hate speech or sowing seeds of disunity in the party I can assure them that they shall not get any votes from the delegates from Chama district because the district is united and shall only vote for a mature leader who is all inclusive and has good leadership attributes. And in fact this country does not need merchants of divisions to take over leadership positions because such leaders may have the propensity to divide the country on tribal and regional lines which is against the legacy of Dr Kenneth Kaunda of promoting the spirit of One Zambia One Nation and besides politics of insults and name calling are long gone and as such the current generation of voters want civilised and objective politics,” said Mtayachalo. “…our political leaders must learn something from these great sons of Africa who demonstrated high levels of patriotism because to them national interest overrides their personal interests which is failing in most of the current crop of leaders because of greedy. Moreover, I want to appeal to the general membership of the Patriotic Front to thoroughly scrutinise all the presidential candidates using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis without being influenced by monetary or material benefits and therefore elect a leader with integrity and credibility thus the person the people of Zambia can trust to run the affairs of the country.”