UPND SHOULD MANAGE ITS FEAR OF LUNGU – HON. KAFWAYA
Tuesday, February 15, 2023
LUNTE PF Member of Parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya says UPND should manage its fear of Lungu because he still retains his human rights even as a former head of state.
And Kafwaya says it is indeed a blessing for UPND to have PF as its main opposition party because it brings out issues to help UPND govern the country.
Responding to Infrastructure and Urban Minister Charles Milupi’s comments that it was a blessing for UPND to have PF as its main opposition party and that people in govt would be happy if any of the individuals vying for PF party presidency won as they had bad records, Monday, Kafwaya said he was proud of his time in government.
He said the UPND should manage its fear that Lungu might come back without forcing him to keep quiet.
“President Lungu isn’t in prison, president Lungu hasn’t lost his Zambian citizenship, president Lungu still has fundamental human rights. The fact that he was president of the republic and he’s no longer one does not take away his human rights. So he has the right to associate, he has the right to movement, he has all those rights. If the UPND fear that president Lungu might come back, they should manage that fear without wanting to take away his rights, without forcing him to be quiet even when he’s not talking,” Kafwaya said.
“How can you go to a person who is quiet and start saying keep quiet? What are you afraid of? What is really bothering you? When somebody escorts his own son to the law enforcement agencies it becomes a problem. He must not enter a shop, he must not enter a barber shop, he just interacts with anyone on the way, what is that? What amount of fear is that? Don’t be so afraid, you are now afraid of shadows which is very unfortunate. Even when President Hakainde Hichilema leaves office, he is going to have freedom, he will be able to interact with those people who love him. For example any of his acquaintances has an issue, by then the former President HH should be able to go to prison and visit his relatives and friends. No one should raise eyebrows because he’s a Zambian”.
And Kafwaya said it was indeed a blessing for UPND to have PF as its main opposition party because it brought out issues to help the ruling party govern the country.
He added that he is proud of the record he left while in government.
“Speaking for myself as a member of the Patriotic Front and as somebody who has applied to contest the position of party president, I can tell you and obviously indicating to honourable Milupi that I’m very proud of my record and unless honourable Milupi has a particular issue he would like to specifically raise against me, I’m very proud of my record in terms of contribution I have made to the nation both at parliamentary and ministerial level. I’m very proud but my pride goes beyond that because when I went in the mainstream government, I think I gave a very decent contribution in the ministry of health, I’m very proud of that. As the Minister of Infrastructure and Urban Development, if he has any record which he thinks is bad about me, I will challenge him to bring it to the public,” said Kafwaya.
“And when he says it’s a blessing to have us as main opposition I agree with him because the issues we have brought to the table are to help them because they have failed to govern the nation and they should listen to us, they should listen to people like me, who has a very decent record in government. Indeed it’s a blessing to them but if they don’t listen to what we are saying it’s going to be very disastrous for them”.
(News Diggers)