A SENIOR PF member says Zambians want change and are even ready to vote for a frog.
The source phoned this reporter, pouring out frustrations and indicating that President Edgar Lungu might lose the August election on account of many things that were being done wrongly.
He catalogues a number of wrongs the PF is doing which are complicating the ruling party’s campaign.
He lamented that the PF had left the campaign to individuals who had only rejoined the ruling party for political and financial relevance.
He said the party leadership had embraced finished individuals whose political parties were on deathbeds and had brought nothing to the ruling party.
“They are flying around the country shouting Lungu, Lungu during the day and decampaigning him at night,” the source, who asked for anonymity, said.
He said President Lungu was being told lies by the same individuals who were using UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s names for their survival.
The source said the playing ground was not smooth for the PF as Zambians want change and were even “ready to vote for a frog”.
“This election is PF versus Zambians and not PF versus UPND. We ought to find plan B and pacify the Zambian people and address their concerns,” the PF member said.
The source also condemned violence perpetrated by the ruling party cadres.
He also wondered why PF secretary general Davies Mwila was seemingly being sidelined in the campaign when it was him who knows all corners of the country.
“Let Mwila be using the chopper that Chishimba Kambwili is using to campaign. Where is Jean Kapata? People also want honourable Malanji on the ground in the campaign, he is very likeable,” the source said.
He also said the tribal campaign against the Tonga people and Hichilema by Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba and Kambwili was not helping matters.
He said individuals who only speak Bemba fluently were the ones spearheading the tribal campaign.
“If anything, this tribal campaigning is helping alienate would be voters from the PF. President Lungu, tell Kambwili and GBM to stop this tribal campaign as it is costing the party a lot,” he said.
The PF source said “these finished” politicians should stop their tribal campaign because the more they attack Hichilema, the more people sympathise with the opposition leader and making him into a martyr.
The source wondered how one would explain the attempted arrest of chief Mukuni and Hichilema.
“President Lungu, be careful with the people that are surrounding you; people who have a hidden agendas. We as PF are complicating the campaign because of not wanting to listen to advice, wrong adoption of candidates, know-it-all attitude, mistrust and hypocrisy,” the source said.
He noted that he ruling party was engulfed in divisions after adoptions and efforts to reconcile had fallen on deaf ears.
“Are you telling me Kambwili has reconciled with the President or he is simply playing the camel and its master or is he waiting for his ideal time to strike back?” the source wondered. “Please, we as PF we should not blame anybody but ourselves if we do not do well in the election. There is still time to turn around the political fortunes for the PF if people are ready to listen to what people want.”
The PF member said it was important for President Lungu to ensure that campaign funds reach the campaigners at the grassroots level.
He said grassroots campaigners were being abused by finished politicians who were busy lining their pockets from the same campaign funds.
He said money spent on hiring a chopper for one individual could be channeled into a constituency to help in mobilisation.
He said those that had returned to the PF and were being prioritised at the expense of loyal members had not brought any numbers to the ruling party.
“Let them bring a minimum of 50,000 to the PF if they are popular as they claim. They can’t bring these people because they have no such numbers; they have no numbers to talk about,” said the PF senior member. “They even have lost the respect among the people because of lacking principles. The President should listen to people’s complaints. PF is for the poor Zambians not these elites.”