PF chairman for media and publicity Frank Bwalya says the ruling party is praying that God does not allow Hakainde Hichilema to become President because he could arrest them all.

Bwalya said this when he featured on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme today, where callers warned him that the PF would suffer the same consequences that HH and the UPND were facing now.

“Ordinarily, I would have ignored most of the things that Kajila [one of the callers] said but you know, they really boarder on very serious misinformation. When he says that what is happening in this regime is going to happen to us in future. What he is actually saying is that when HH becomes President, he will arrest President [Edgar] Lungu and incarcerate all of us in the manner he has been incarcerated but one thing that is very clear is that the Patriotic Front is not responsible for what is happening to HH and therefore, our prayer is and will continue to be that God should not allow such a leader who if they became President, they would persecute innocent people like ourselves because we are very very innocent and we are not the ones responsible for the arrest of Mr Hakainde Hichilema. I know Zambians are listening and I hope that God will through Zambians stop a person such as Hichilema from anywhere near state power,” Bwalya said.

And Bwalya said HH’s election petition would never be heard.

“That election petition will never be heard! It will not be heard in any court no matter what because ECZ which is the body mandated to announce the official winner of an election openly declared President Edgar Lungu as winner of the August 11 elections so there is no way someone who can claim that he was not legitimately elected. He was declared and we even went to sign, so there is nothing to be heard about that petition,” Bwalya said.

Bwalya insisted that the tension in the country could only be reduced if the UPND moved on and accepted defeat.

Meanwhile, Bwalya said Mmusi Maimane’s deportation had not dented the country’s image.

“Denying Maimane entry into Zambia has nothing to do with foregin affairs, it has nothing to do with foreign relations or indeed foreign policy of Zambia. He was denied entry for reasons that should be explained by home affairs because these issues fall under Home Affairs and not Foreign Affairs. So the people who are saying that no Zambia’s foreign policy, international relations and so what…unless if it was Jacob Zuma who was coming to Zambia and he ended up being embarrassed at the airport and sent back then yes, issues of foreign policy would come in, issues of international relations would also come in. But when you have a citizen of another country coming even if he is a leader of an oposition party or a government official, if they are sent back in the manner the guy [Mmusi] was sent back and there is internal communication to do with why the guy was sent back the it can. If the reasons are not genuine but in many cases it can not if there is genuine reason for doing so,”said Bwalya.

“Moreover, the immigration had numerous reasons for doing so and one reason is that these guys were even announcing that he was coming to Zambia to commit contempt of court.”