Africa-Press – Zambia. MPIKA PF MP Francis Kapyanga says acting president Given Lubinda should explain why the party has not held a convention.
Kapyanga adds that the party wrangles can only be settled once PF goes for a convention and elects a president.
In an interview, Thursday, Kapyanga wondered how the party convention was postponed with approval of the central committee.
“The decision of the conference was made by the central committee and thereafter the conference has been postponed without the involvement of the central committee. I have asked around all members of the central committee if at all the central committee decided that the conference should not proceed. Remember, the only legal entity in the party that makes decisions is the central committee. After it was mentioned that on 29th November we would have a conference, no single central committee has ever sat to make a decision otherwise. So, whatever has happened, honourable Lubinda should explain to all of us how a decision made by the central committee was nullified and which body nullified the central committee because under the Patriotic Front constitution, the only body that can nullify its own decision is the central committee, not any other body,” Kapyanga noted.
“We all want to go to the conference; I love all these presidential candidates despite the fact that I have endorsed honourable Brian Mundubile, I love all of these other candidates as fellow party members. The conference must proceed. You cannot solve the issues of internal wrangles by postponing the conference, you only solve them by going to the conference so that the membership gives the mandate to the leader of their choice. I have always been of the view that the elective conference must be held as quickly as possible because with an elective conference, the PF membership will be given an opportunity to give a mandate to the person they want”.
Kapyanga stressed that Lubinda should step aside and let the convention proceed, stating that party members are willing to rally behind him if he is elected as party president.
“The acting president has brought forward his nomination, he also wants to contest. So, he should not be the one to block the conference because everyone now thinks it’s because he knows he’s going to lose. He should have stepped aside and just ensured that the conference proceeds then if the people at the conference elect him as the party president, everyone of us will rally behind him.
I’m just consulting the members of my constituency on the way forward because they equally need direction. People in Mpika need direction, people in Muchinga province where I am, the provincial youth chairman also needs direction and the only thing that can chart that direction is the conference, so the conference must be allowed to proceed,” he added.
“As a party member, I’m very worried with the happenings in the party and more especially with the expulsions, the suspensions and all those decisions that are being emotionally made without consulting anyone and they are not even in the best interest of the party. This is the more reason why you cannot have a referee also playing. Our party president should have been a referee in this game, oversee[ing] the transition, then the people who will come in will still respect him as the father figure of our party. We lost president Edgar Lungu who was a father figure of our party and now we need one such as honourable Lubinda to remain our father figure instead of this confusion. I have always wanted that honourable Lubinda remains a father figure of our party, and allow other contenders to vie for the position, whoever will be elected at the conference; we’ll rally behind them and get united”.
Kapyanga expressed disappointment that the party had not learnt from its mistakes, and highlighted the importance of unity in the PF.
“The Zambian people have been calling on us to get united but is there anyone who is listening? I don’t think so. The same way they did not listen prior to the 2021 general elections until they made president Lungu lose, the same way they did not listen after losing the elections when people said get united and choose a leader. They called for a conference, collected K200,000 from would be candidates and later postponed the conference indefinitely.
In the midst, also suspended Miles Sampa and he retaliated by holding a conference of his own. What followed? We lost the party. Even after that, no one has learnt anything, seemingly so, and we are in this situation where we don’t have the party and instead of getting united, we are having these wrangles,” said Kapyanga.
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