WE have agreed with Electoral Commission of Zambia for them to register nine million people in 30 days, says ruling PF secretary general Davies Mwila.
He also says he is not aware that the current application of the public order Act disadvantages the opposition.
Mwila featured on ZNBC TV’s Sunday Interview programme, hosted by Grevazio Zulu.
He started by talking about the ‘exceptional’ performance of the PF government.
“UNIP was in power for 27 years, the MMD were in power for 20 years and the PF for nine years. If you look at the performance of all the three political parties, I can mention that PF has performed extremely well,” Mwila boasted.
He catalogued the PF government’s ‘achievements’ in the education, health sectors, as well as the development of infrastructure across the country.
Reminded by the interviewer that there was a public view that the concentration on infrastructure development was due to kickbacks gotten by some corrupt elements in the system, Mwila could not buy that.
“No! No! No! Development is about bringing infrastructure. That’s how you develop! Without infrastructure, there is no development. That’s the more reason Patriotic Front has concentrated on improving infrastructure,” Mwila said.
He also claimed that President Edgar Lungu and PF: “we are very committed in the fight against corruption. And we’ve not spared anyone who is involved in corruption.”
On whether or not the acquittals of government ministers accused of corruption were stage-managed, Mwila answered: “the courts are independent – they make decisions.”
“Chishimba Kambwili was jailed; it’s decision of the court. We’ll not interfere,” he said.
Asked if Kambwili would have been jailed if he were a minister, Mwila said he did not know.
“That’s the decision of the court,” he said, further detaching the PF from Kambwili’s case. “Any [PF] individual who was celebrating because Honourable Kambwili has been jailed, that is up to that individual. But us as a party, we are not interested in Kambwili’s case. And we are not interested in anyone to be kicked out from the race. We want everyone to stay on [and] come next year, they will be defeated by PF.”
On why him and PF president Edgar Lungu were tightlipped at the last party presidents’ summit at Mulungushi International Conference Centre, Mwila explained that they were quiet because the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) had been engaging all the political players.
“From the onset, ECZ has been engaging us… We’ve been agreeing on issues that ECZ were bringing on the table. One of them is on the nomination fees. We saw that nomination fees were high; we engaged Electoral Commission of Zambia and that’s the more reason ECZ had to listen to all the political players,” he explained.
“So, on all the issues that they’ve brought…But I think as the party in government, we are very comfortable.”
Mwila stressed that it is possible for the ECZ to register nine million voters in 30 days.
“When we are voting, we just vote for a day – four million [people] vote in a day. When it comes to voter registration, you are talking about 30 days. You are going to have 8,999 polling stations,” he said. “Each polling station can register 33 people in a day and we are going to reach nine million. That’s the more reason we have agreed with Electoral Commission of Zambia for them to register nine million people in 30 days. Us as the party which is in government, we are very much ready to go and sensitise our people, our members, so that they can register [as voters]. We are geared, come 28 October.”
Under the same breath, Mwila claimed the ECZ was autonomous.
“We don’t control ECZ but what we are saying is that in 30 days they can manage to register nine million people,” Mwila declared. “We are ready for elections [but] UPND are not ready. That’s why they are crybabies…”
On incessant power outages around the country, Mwila said the government had invested a lot of money in the energy sector.
“Within next year, by March, 750 megawatts will come on board and we expect load-shedding to come to an end. By March [2021], we don’t expect any load-shedding,” he promised. “As we go for elections, there will be no load-shedding.”
On the application of the public order Act, Mwila pointed out that it was not the PF that administers the Act.
“It is in public domain; we have told our colleagues that let’s support Bill 10, we amend the public order Act. There is no arm-twisting [but] it’s about the political players coming on the table and say ‘okay, let’s agree on this and we should not agree on this’,’” Mwila said. “So, on the public order Act, I’m emphasising, there is need for them to support Bill 10, for us to amend the public order Act.”
Meanwhile, asked if he was aware that opposition parties were not being allowed by the police to hold rallies the way PF is doing, Mwila responded: “I’m not aware!”
“I just heard that they (UPND and NDC) want to hold a protest, which was supposed to be held last week…[But] I don’t want to concentrate on UPND because I don’t apply [police] permits for them. I apply for my party!” said Mwila.