PF Secretary General Davies Mwila says he has instructed the lower organs of the party not to touch Harry Kalaba because he is not a threat to the party.

And Mwila has challenged the UPND to go for a party convention to prove its intra-party democratic credentials and dispel any notions of it being a dictatorial party.

Asked if it was true that the PF had influenced the decision to have Kalaba’s Democratic Party deregistered, Mwila said the party had made a decision to let the former Foreign Affairs Minister go without any disciplinary action taken against him.

“That is the issue for Stephen Kampyongo [Home Affairs Minister]; they are the ones who deregistered that party. How can they be a threat [when] they have not been registered? They have not even launched a political party, how can they be a threat? No, let them just follow the right channels [of registering a party] they are not a threat. And that is the more reason [why] as a party, we have not even taken disciplinary action against Kalaba because he is not a threat. So, we have told all the lower organs that they should not even touch him. As far as we are concerned, we have said let him go, it ends there. No one will touch him. How do you touch a person who is just alone?” Mwila asked.

He added that opposition political parties like the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were just jokers who would never win any election.

“The campaigns are going on well; we are going to win all the seats. All those, the NDC, they are jokers. They have been saying, ‘the party is getting stronger.’ If they are stronger, why is it that they have only fielded a candidate in Lusaka? In Chilanga they failed, in Samfya they have failed, in Eastern Province, the five, they have failed and in all the wards they have failed! These are just jokers, they don’t mean business. They are not serious people,” insisted Mwila.

Commenting on claims that the PF was forcing UPND to go for a convention, Mwila charged that the opposition party, in its current form, would never win elections because it was imposing leaders on people.

He said the PF was not forcing the UPND to go for a convention, but challenging them to consider having one in order to demonstrate its democratic credentials and dispel any notions of it being a dictatorial party.

“We are not forcing them [to go for the convention]; all what we are saying is that, they have to be democratic, they have to be like us who normally hold internal party elections. And so, we are doing the party elections in Lusaka, but where did you hear that UPND is doing party elections? All what we are saying is that, they have to be elected by their own people. There must be intra-party democracy. Internal democracy must be there. If they cannot be democratic, how are they going to lead this country? If they are dictators, they just impose themselves on their people. [For] us, we are going to the general conference in 2020 to go and elect the president and other members of the Central Committee. Why can’t they do that? We are not forcing them. If they want, they can remain dictators, but the Zambian people are watching them,” Mwila responded in an interview with News Diggers!

He dispelled allegations that PF was buying off opposition councillors, particularly from the UPND, to join his party.

“We don’t buy [people] how do we buy a councillor? Where are we getting the money to buy the councillors? because the party is de-linked from government. So, we are not like UNIP, which used to get money from government. [For] us, we are a party and all is de-linked from government, we don’t get resources from government. How do we buy the councillors? The position is that all these councillors who are defecting, they know that the UPND is losing popularity. That is why they are leaving the UPND. The UPND in its current form can’t win an election. I can assure you, they will continue losing,” Mwila explained.

He also wondered why UPND had continued encouraging its cadres to defend themselves when no one was going to attack them.

“UPND, we have said, is a violent party! At no time did their leaders condemn their youths about the acts of violence; we have given too many examples, the Monze one, the Namwala one [and] no one has come out to say, ‘we are condemning what happened.’ So, it’s a violent party. And who is going to attack them? Our youths will not attack them because we have told our youths to refrain from acts of violence, it ends there. [Now] how are they going to be attacked? They were not attacked in Chilanga. They are just scared because they are going to lose all the seats. [For] us, our campaigns will be based on issues and not personalities. So, on the issue of violence, we have told our cadres to refrain from that because we are a party, which is in government and we have to lead by example,” he said.