Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Davies Mwila has wondered why ruling party officials are fighting amongst themselves when they have failed to fight the opposition NDC.

And Mwila has boasted that he has so much power as the party’s chief executive officer which he always restrains himself from using because it always leaves people weeping.

Meanwhile, Mwila says he no longer wants to be a member of parliament.

Speaking when he met party officials in Chingola district, Thursday, Mwila encouraged the members of the party to embrace one another, promote unity and only fight with opposition party members like those from the National Democratic Congress.

“As a party, we do not have any problem. The problem is ourselves, that is what I know. All of us are one. I was speaking to district officials when I just came and I was telling them that they must embrace one another. You have just come from an election as [Chingola] district and that is your starting point. If the district is not united then in the constituencies it will be worse. We want unity in the district then things will follow. So I don’t want to hear anyone fighting; let’s fight the opposition, let’s not fight ourselves. You are failing to fight with NDC but you are fighting amongst yourselves,” Mwila observed.

And Mwila warned that he would use his powers if party officials did not adhere to his guidance.

“I expect unity as I leave this place today. Nga takwakabe umutende, amaka nalikwata sana, that’s why nshifwaya ukuyabomfwa bomfya sana pantu nga nayabomfya amaka abantu balashala balelila (if I don’t hear of unity here, [you know] I have so much. Power which I don’t even like to use regularly because whenever I use it, people remain weeping’,” Mwila said.

“So my people, as I leave this place, I am hopeful that there will be peace here because if there is no unity, it’s difficult even for people to defend the party when they go on radio. We want to have unity because everything the President has been doing reflects the reasons why we have leaders: it’s to go and defend what the government is doing, not to just watch the opposition. So I have spoken about this issue and I will not speak about it again. The next time I come here I will just take action.”

Mwila also insisted that non-performing officials would not be adopted in 2021.

“On the issue of delivering services to our people, it’s not just for councilors, even members of parliament must deliver. The reason we elected members of parliament is to deliver what people want, including those that they promised them. We will be having elections in 2021, and MPs who are performing well be re-elected but those who don’t will not be re-elected. In the last central committee meeting, we discussed that those that are aspiring to stand for positions should wait so that those who are already there can be given chance to work. But then we say this, it does not mean that those who have already been elected to particular positions should become lazy and sleep, they should also work and prove themselves,” Mwila warned.

Meanwhile, Mwila says he no longer dreams about being a member of parliament.

“I grew up in this town and back then when I was still excited about being a member of parliament, this is the place I should have stood in. But I decided to go and stand in the village but now I don’t even want to be a member of parliament anymore, I don’t even dream about it,” Mwila said.

“I came here and started my grade one at Lubambe school and then proceeded to Premier college and then I started working for ZCCM- IH at a very young age. I worked in the mines for 22 years so I know all the issues in this town and there is no one who can lie to me [about Chingola]. That’s why we have come here so that we can talk about the issue of KCM. This story of KCM is not alien to us, we have been through this before. When we had Anglo America, we went through this and they even took our benefits.”

Mwila told the PF officials not to be fooled by NDC, saying the party was just jealous because government had taken a bold step to ‘divorce’ KCM.

“We have even taken long to make a decision, KCM has made people suffer! This same Vedanta used to outsource labour who thereafter contracted our people to work for them and this brought about poverty. Because they never used to get paid. So we have decided to liquidate KCM so that people can be paid their dues. So for now, we are looking for an investor to take over the indebtedness and has the capacity to run the mine. But then this depends on how you are going to negotiate as employees of KCM, that’s who government is on your side. Do not be fooled by NDC, those are jealous because they thought we could never make a decision. We have made a decision in the interest of the country and the workers of KCM. There is already a process to engage someone else to take over KCM and the Minister of Mines will talk about it in parliament soon on how far the process has gone. The future of Chingola is in the mines, Chingola needs to go back to what it used to be,” said Mwila.