PF deputy Media Director Antonio Mwanza says the luxury jet which was purchased by the Zambia Air Force is not for President Edgar Lungu, but for the people of Zambia.

And Mwanza says UPND vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba advertises his ignorance every time he opens his mouth.

Meanwhile, Mwanza has backed Minister of National Development Planning Alexander Chiteme’s claim that none of the civil servants dismissed from government for plunder of public resources belong to the ruling party.

Speaking at a PF interactive forum, Tuesday, Mwanza said nothing which was bought for President Lungu during his time as Head of State belonged to him.

“And this story about a jet, even when the Ministry of Defense has given an elaborate statement, through the permanent secretary Mr Sturdy Mwale that government, through ZAF is procuring some military software and hardware, they have continued to say that there is a jet which has been bought and people are able to cook t-bone in the jet. The level of propaganda and desperation in the UPND is alarming. People must know that there is no jet that has been procured for President Edgar Lungu. ZAF has been given the mandate through the act and the procurement laws to procure military software for the people of Zambia and not for Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu. So whatever is purchased, it is purchased for the people of Zambia and not for President Edgar Lungu. When President Lungu leaves office, he will go and leave everything he has been using including the towels and the bed sheets he has been using at State House. He will leave them for the next President,” Mwanza said.

“So it is wrong for people to maliciously paint a picture that the president is enjoying life. People must know that the presidency is an institution. I don’t think they want the President to be moving in a Corolla and the Presiden to be moving unsecured. If anything happened to the President, this country will be on fire. So the cost of protecting the presidency must be secured and we must remove politics from issues of national secutiry.

And Mwanza said GBM advertised his ignorance every time he opened his mouth.
“When I read that statement in News Diggers and The Mast about Mr Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba asking the Speaker of the National Assembly to bring back the motion, I realized why Mr Hakainde Hichilema is at pains to have that man as his vice-president. He is at pains but he just doesn’t know what to do because every time Mr Bwalya Mwamba opens his mouth, he advertises his ignorance on issues of national importance. It is clear that he doesn’t even understand how Parliament works or what the impeachment law states,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking when he featured on UNZA radio’s Lusaka Star programme earlier, Mwanza encouraged Zambians to demand for stronger penalties against the thieving civil servants who were tarnishing government’s image.

“If you look at all these thefts going on in the civil service, it’s not theft by PF. There hasn’t been a PF official who has been involved in this. [The people who are stealing] are civil servants, our very own children who we sponsored to study her at the University of Zambia. The government gave them jobs and paid bursaries for them while in school and then government even gave them jobs. But when they get into these offices, they are the ones who are stealing from the government that has given them jobs. They are the ones that are stealing from the government that has sponsored them to school, they are the ones that are stealing from the people of Zambia that have given them an opportunity to work. These civil servants must be put in check and the people of Zambia must demand for stronger penalties against these civil servants that are stealing from the people and making government and the Patriotic Front party look bad,” said Mwanza.