LUSAKA lawyer Kelvin Bwalya Fube has warned the Patriotic Front to be wary or risk not having a candidate in the 2021 general elections if they insist on fielding President Edgar Lungu.

And KBF says as far as he is concerned, Bill 10 is dead, wondering why government wants to bring back a divisive bill.

Speaking when he featured on Muvi TV’s The Assignment programme, Sunday, KBF insisted that President Lungu is not eligible to stand in 2021, warning that the opposition already had arsenals ready to fight his candidature.

“Article 103 disqualified him already, he has been elected twice, he can’t stand. Now if we as a party don’t face these facts, hard facts, with the law and we pretend we can be dancing around and try to skim, this thing has been done before, in 2001, the late President Chiluba tried to go for a third term and I might add, he was more popular than the current president, what happened? The Zambia people rose and said no third term. What we are trying to do technically right now is go through the back door to bring the president back through a third term, he’s been elected twice. He cannot stand, he is not eligible, so what are we doing? Do we want to be found wanting as a party without a candidate? Because I can assure you, I know the thinking of the opposition, I have fought them many times and from where I sit, I am a strategist, we’ve also got spies, they’ve infiltrated those camps and I know they’ve got arsenal’s targeted at us, tukai sanga muli mwamoneni (we will be left stranded). We should be very careful, let’s not take this thing lightly. People are prepared to fight,” he said.

“From where I am sitting yes, and I am a lawyer, I took oath to uphold this Constitution of the Republic of Zambia and I help defend and protect it, I cannot be part of that illegality. I cannot. Just like I was part of the group, much as I loved ba Chiluba, the late president but I joined the Oasis Forum, we fought him. We’ve done this before, we’ve fought a sitting president based on principals of law, we fought the presidency for a third term and we will do it again.”

He insisted that the Constitutional Court did not say President Lungu was eligible to stand as they substituted the question that was presented before the court.

“The question that was before the court was never answered. The ConCourt substituted the question that was asked of it. The reason was as precedence will have it, you cannot make a judgement against a person who is not a party to the proceedings. President Edgar Lungu was not part of the proceedings, these were surrogates that were sponsored to go and ask a question to the ConCourt, the court said no, you are not Edgar Lungu, why are you before us with this question, we can’t answer this question, however, we shall ask another question, that was the question which they answered, the substituted question. If President Lungu feels he’s eligible, let him go before the ConCourt, let him go and ask for the interpretation…If President Lungu stands it will be an illegality,” KBF insisted.

And KBF questioned how the party can fail to produce a candidate within 10 months when President Lungu only campaigned for 33 days.

“We managed to put the candidature if His Excellency the President Edgar Chagwa Lungu within 90 days, we campaigned less than 33 days, we won an election. We’ve got almost 10 months. Are you honestly telling me with the kind of strategies and planning that I know we are capable of doing, we cannot produce a candidate for an election?” he asked.

“The party right now has got wrangles, we’ve got differences, we are being labelled corrupt, we are being labelled a bunch of thieves, we are being called names left, right and centre. So those people who are currently in government, do you think they can turn the fortunes of this party and convince the Zambian people, the undecided voters, those who are sitting on the fence? It will require a bulldozer.”

He said he was not alone in his quest and had a much bigger team behind him.

“I appear to be discussing this issue with you alone, I appear to be alone, ba Mwansa, nshili neka, tuli bengi (I am not alone, we are many). We have a mob of people behind us, far much bigger than that Central Committee, original party members of the PF, old members of the party, true greens, the real PF. I am not alone,” KBF said.

KBF also insisted that he was still a PF member as the Central Committee which purportedly expelled him had expired.

“The Central Committee is an illegality. There is no central committee, just because you purportedly appointed by the President does not make you a member of Central Committee, the president can only appoint three, beyond that it becomes an illegality, the whole thing is a sham. Let’s be real, we are lawyers, the president and I,” he said.

Meanwhile, KBF said Bill 10 was dead.

“Bill 10 for me is a waste of time, a waste of resources, is diverting our attention in the wrong direction, we have an election to prepare for, we have all these differences, all these wrangles in the party, we should be galvanising and coming back together. Bill 10 is divisive, we don’t need it. Even if we were going to amend the Constitution, it’s not the right time. It’s wrong timing. So for me, the intentions for Bill 10 are not noble. I will leave the rules to the Speaker, and the various members of parliament but a bill for me, according to the rules that I have read exists for six months, that’s the end of the story. This Bill 10 has been [there] from last year, stopped because of Covid, stopped because of…the bill is dead, let’s agree. And in any case, if you have to bring it back, you are bringing it back for what?” asked KBF.