By Ulande Nkomesha,
PF acting president Given Lubinda says the party lost the August general elections because former ministers and other party members became big headed.
And Lubinda says it was unfortunate that some party members were going on TV to show off money.
Meanwhile, Lubinda says he has not told anyone that he want’s to be PF president.
Speaking to supporters in Kabwata, Tuesday, Lubinda said that party members stopped listening to people on the ground.
“I will tell you as party vice-president that I admit our wrongs. As leaders of the Patriotic Front, after seeing that we formed government and started developing, we grew big-headed.
We grew so big headed that some of us ministers, as Ministers of Justice, when I go to parliament and an MP comes to tell me that ‘Honourable minister we need this in Chinsali’, because I have become big-headed, I would say ukase mail (come tomorrow). We became so big-headed.
We stopped listening to what the people were saying. We were making bridges, roads and schools, but we were not listening to what the pupils and students were saying. We started showing off that we were the people with a lot of money.
We even started going to show off on TV to say look at the money I have. While we were showing off all that money, the people did not have money.
This is what annoyed the people and they said “even if you are working and bringing development, you have become too big-headed”. People in Zambia did not vote for UPND in August, they simply punished us, it was a punishment,” Lubinda said in Nyanja.
Lubinda warned PF members whom he said had continued castigating central committee members to stop “bickering”.
“Those who are saying I have not followed the constitution, let them read properly article 53, let them read article 54. Those who are complaining, I read Mcdonald Chipenzi, who is UPND, I don’t know what is difficult for them in PF party, he wrote on social media that ‘the central committee had made a mistake, you have put a vice president to be acting president, you are giving him advantage because he also wants to be president’, Mcdonald Chipenzi when did I tell you that I want to be president? People are complaining, I have not yet said I want to be president,” Lubinda said.
“I want to tell my friends, please I already said the job I have with my friends in the central committee it is not about me, it is not about Chilangwa, it is not about Elizabeth, it is about the people of Zambia. How can I become president of the PF if we have destroyed the party?
If I want to be president of my kitchen and my children, let me go and make your own party, but if I want to have a strong party, I must make sure that I must forget about first being president and work with you on the ground, we grow the party.
So please my friends who are going on social media, you get money and give people to write articles on social media, you are going on television to talk about the central committee, please I am asking you to show that you love this party, stop bickering and build the party. They told us that the PF was a dead party, if the PF party died why are they following corpse?”
And speaking on Lusaka Music Radio, Wednesday, Lubinda said the PF had performed better than the UPND in its first 100 days.
“If I compare the first 100 days of the Patriotic Front way back in 2011 and the first 100 days of the UPND, surly they are miles apart. Even the first four months of the PF in 2011 and the first four months of the UPND, you can see that they are miles apart.
We scored many more successes in the first four months than this government has done. They are bragging now that they have released K2.1 billion to pay retirees, over the last 10 years that we where in government, we released much more than K2.1 billion to pay retirees. The issue of retirees is a historical issue, we inherited a historical problem,” he said.
“We could have done things better you just have to look at our manifesto, we promised the Zambian people that if they were to give us a fresh mandate with regards to fuel we would ensure that we recapitalise Indeni. What we did as Zambians on the 12th of August shall very soon halt all of us Zambians.
I can assure you that come September 2022, there will be very few praise singers remaining because everybody by then would have come to the realisation that this government is not taking this country anywhere.
The increase of 30 percent of fuel is just the start and it was kept at 30 percent in view of the pending by elections in Kabwata, after 20th January, I can assure you they are going to increase the price of fuel again.”
He accused the UPND government of refusing to pay suppliers, that supplied goods and services to the government before the August election.
“Talking about the economy, I want to extend the argument, it is not only because the youths are out of the markets, the youths are out of bus stations that you don’t see money in circulation in our compounds.
You just have to look at this mall, if you look at this mall, under the PF government by now 11:00hrs there will be lots of traffic here, they will be lots of people shopping.
Now they are very few, what is causing that? People might not realise that the President Hakainde Hichilema in his thinking has instructed the treasury not to pay any suppliers,” he said.
“Since August suppliers of goods and services to the government have not been paid since August. There are reasons why they have not been paid, number one as far as President Hakainde is concerned, all those suppliers who were supplying goods and services to government are PF people, so don’t give them their money because if you give them their money, they will use their money to build the PF.
So punish them! With this kind of mentality I don’t see Zambia’s economy growing. Under Hakainde Hichilema I can assure you that there will be a few people who will be extremely stinking rich, the rest of us shall wallow in poverty.”
He said he was impressed in the manner the PF had recovered after the August election.
“The rate at which we have recovered is extremely impressive as a political party. Within four months we have shown our resilience. There was a time when a lot of our people where scattered because they were being chased, they were being persecuted.
As I wish the people of Zambia a prosperous 2022, I would also want to tell them you heard what Mutati said, he has spilt the beans on behalf of Hakainde Hichilema. So Zambians let us brace for harder times to come but don’t lose the faith,” said Lubinda.