UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka says residents of Lupososhi no longer want to be taken advantage of, that’s why they humiliated the Patriotic Front.
On Tuesday, President Edgar Lungu admitted that the local government election defeat in Northern Province was an embarrassment that should never happen again.
But in an interview, Mucheleka said the UPND had penetrated the Northern Province.
“We have already penetrated! You can only hold on to something from which you derive benefits from. Now what is there to hold on to PF? Nothing! They just come to use tribe to hoodwink us. As they do that, they are giving us Chitenge, they are giving us sugar, they have not done anything for us so why should we continue voting for PF? They are coming to lie that HH is tribal, they are the ones who are tribal. Lungu has kicked out the people that know the history of Lupososhi so who will speak for them? He thinks he can take advantage of the poverty of the people by giving the handouts?” Mucheleka asked.
“They have shown him! What action has Lungu demonstrated in Lupososhi? The only time you see the President is when there is an election but this time around, people said ‘we don’t want anyone to come and fool us, if you want us to vote for you, do what we expect you to do. You must deliver on the promises you made’. Lungu cannot pretend that he loves the people of Northern Province. When they voted for him because of the false beliefs that he was going to continue on Sata’s programmes, he turned the other way and appointed Inonge Wina from an area that has rejected him and PF. If he doesn’t want that to happen again, what does he mean? He thinks he can continue to use the police to threaten the people? Let him indicate what he has done for the people of Kasama. He promised to build them a stadium has it been built? No! He promised to construct a university, has that been done? He promised to do the Nseluka-Kalambe road, has that road been constructed? He promised to build an ultra modern hospital in Kasama, has that hospital been built? The only ultra modern hospital he has built is the one in Petauke in the middle of nowhere.”
And Mucheleka charged that President Lungu embraced corruption.
“He has failed lamentably! The economy is bleeding. They think that by going to Northern Province issuing NRCs to young people, those young people are going to vote for them, if you want them to vote for you, create the jobs that you promised. The people in Northern Province are suffering like everywhere else even as I speak to you, the saloons are not functioning because there is no power. Why don’t we have power? They are claiming that it is climate change. It is not about climate change, it is about corruption in PF which Mr Lungu has embraced with his hands. He was in Kasama yesterday, did you see how many people received him at the airport? The vehicles that were at the airport were much more than the number of people. They are panicking,” said Mucheleka.
