Africa-Press – Zambia. FORMER PF Secretary General Davies Mwila says Given Lubinda wants to impose himself as party president.
Further, Mwila wondered where Lubinda would get the votes when his origins are not known.
Meanwhile, PF faction acting Deputy Secretary General Brenda Nyirenda has wondered whether Lubinda had taken whiskey shots before making those appointments.
Lubinda, who is PF acting president, has made a number of changes to the party, removing Mwila, Nyirenda and party chairperson Emmanuel Mpankanta from the central committee.
In an interview, Saturday, Mwila wondered whether Lubinda’s father was Zambian, adding that he did not know where Lubinda would get the votes to win the party presidency.
“Did he appoint me or I was elected by the conference? He doesn’t have those powers. Me, I was elected by the general conference, I was not appointed by anyone, so, he doesn’t have those powers. If it has happened, because I’m not aware of that, he doesn’t have those powers, unless [the people] whom he appointed.
Some of us were elected by the general conference in 2021. He’s trying to impose himself. PF is a democratic party; presidents are elected, so him he wants to impose himself on the people, it will not help him. So, by removing people from positions he thinks it will help him, it will not. Let him just follow what people want, that’s all,” said Mwila.
“He’s a candidate, why is he still holding that position [PF acting president]. There must be fair play. Those are artificial wrangles, he wants to create those confusions himself, there’s no one interested in confusion because our members are anxiously waiting for a leader so him, he doesn’t want.
If he doesn’t want, let him wait for the members, they will tell him what to do. You can’t impose yourself on people. And moreover, even if he became president tomorrow, where is he going to get the votes from, we don’t know where he comes from, we don’t know whether it’s Western, whether it’s Central [provinces], we don’t know. We don’t know whether the father is Zambian or what, we don’t know. Where is he going to get the votes from, [he is] just wasting our time”.
Meanwhile, Nyirenda said Lubinda’s decision was illegal, null and void because he had no power to make such decisions.
“What Given Lubinda has done is illegal, null and void. The fact that he’s a presidential candidate, his powers ended the day he paid his expression of interest. He’s considered a candidate and for now, he should concentrate on going round the country so that he can garner votes because we are not backing out on the convention, on choosing a leader.
So my advice to our big man is that yes, it’s hot out there, he was attacked, but let him garner more courage to go out there and be able to speak to the electorates. If he can’t do it physically, let him try virtual meetings because we are ready to have a leader in place,” she said.
“So, ignore whatever he has said, maybe he could have taken one or two whisky shots, that’s what made him start making those pronouncements. They must have been coming out of some influence of alcohol, I don’t think it’s normal. If you ask him today, I think he has a different view. When you are standing firm on a position, other people may not like you, other people may react differently.
I’m a professional, I’m a lecturer, so for me, I believe in doing things in a straight way. What I have laid on the ground, from the time when I took over, after honourable Nakacinda was jailed, I set up that the time of when our business of not having a leader should come to an end because if we didn’t have that deadline then we were not going anywhere”.
She added that only the central committee could remove her from her position, not Lubinda.
“Any decisions to be made to fire any of us is supposed to be done by the central committee. So, if honourable Lubinda feels that I’m not worth holding this position, he should have floated it to the central committee, the 80 members should vote whether I should be removed from office or not. In the first place, he’s not even the one who appointed me, he’s just in an acting position.
Discover more
Legal consultation services
Diplomatic Strategy Analysis
Politics News Service
Travel guides to Zambia
Global politics podcasts
Doctor
Conflict resolution workshops
African current events newsletters
Opinion Editorial Platform
Political Leadership Profiles
My loyalty is to Edgar Chagwa Lungu, the person who saw quality in me and knew that I can be of value to the Patriotic Front so as at now, he’s an aspiring candidate. We are waiting upon honourable Mpankanta, who is our chairperson, [for] direction. The chair is going to give us what we are going to follow. Those decisions are coming out of whims or emotions, sometimes people don’t know how to hold up and how to deal with issues properly but I don’t blame him, he went through a lot when he was attacked,” Nyirenda said.
Nyirenda said that Lubinda’s decision might be as a result of him not being happy with the way she had been doing her work.
“So, for me, I believe that any organisation, for it to operate normally and be able to get the attention of the people outside, the way you organise yourselves matters. I’ve brought in the issue of proper organisation; we’ve set deadlines for them. Initially, they didn’t want to come out and show their interest, they just wanted to be bringing confusion but then I set out the aggregates to meet, say if we do this, by this time we should be able to do that, after we’ve done this, we’ll be able to achieve that. This morning, we are meeting actually, so that we can have a virtual meeting with our leaders out there because it’s becoming a bit of a challenge meeting them physically so that we can choose a leader,” said Nyirenda.
“We wanted to get information from the structures on how best, the best route that we can use to pick our leader. Who can arrest you virtually? We can be able to meet and be able to discuss and choose a leader, votes can come in. There are only a 156 constituencies and only 116 districts, we can be able to get that information within an hour, everything can be done so when you are coming in with new ways of doing things, those who have been old in the party may not like your ideas.
I can’t say maybe everyone else was happy with the route that we were taking. In fact, even for this central committee meeting, it wasn’t even my office that called for the central committee meeting, it was him who called for the central committee meeting, so we were supposed to finalise everything and all of a sudden he just wakes up in the night with some women holding a chitenge for him and makes that decision”.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
