PF deputy national chairperson Davies Chama says President Edgar Lungu has continued with the legacy of transformation such that when late president Michael Sata looks down from above, he is very proud of the Head of State.

And Chama says the ruling party has a strategy of ensuring that President Edgar Lungu wins this year’s election by one million votes.

In an interview, Chama, who is also Defence Minister, emphasised that the ruling party stood resolutely behind President Lungu’s candidature in this year’s election because he had done a lot to develop Zambia.

“We have made a statement to the effect that we have endorsed President Edgar Lungu and he is going for a second term with a landslide. The debate on the President for us I think is a closed matter and those who want to continue debating it because they have nothing else to debate about, for us, we don’t even think about it. We have President Lungu, who is standing in August, as president for PF so they should not be concerned about us; they should worry about their political parties,” Chama said. “We are comfortable with the President and we are comfortable with what he has done in a very short period of time from the time he came into power. He has continued with the legacy of transformation. I think where president Sata is, when he is looking down from above, he is very proud of President Lungu and what the PF has done.”

And Chama said by the time the PF would be done ruling the country in the next 40 years, no party would be compared to it.

“You are talking to the Defence Minister and if you have a general, who shares strategies with every ‘Jim and Jack’, then I don’t know what type of general I would be. Anyone who is saying, ‘PF doesn’t have a strategy’ I think they are mistaken because they don’t know. We had a strategy in 2011. In 2016, even now, we have a strategy of development to make sure that we transform this country and everything is there for everyone to see. Even a blind man, as they try to walk where they walked before, you will find that they will find something that is being done; even for the blind person, they are able to feel. So, for those who are saying we don’t have a strategy, they don’t know what they are talking about. We have a strategy of development, transformation, to make sure that we change this country for the better beyond recognition,” Chama said.

“It is only people that have been away for sometime that are able to appreciate it. Just go away for six months, you will be shocked, you will be lost. When development is taking place and you are available, you think that there is nothing happening. Many Zambians are appreciating what is happening. By the time we are done with Zambia, there will be no other party that will stay in power for maybe five years because they will compare it with PF and say, ‘what PF did in 50 years and what you are doing, you are just joking.’ By the time we are done in the next 40 years, the time we will have other people take over from us in 40 years…”

He projected that President Lungu would win the upcoming August 12 polls by one million votes.

“Our strategy is verified and tested. Even a ‘doubting Thomas’ can be able to see. The opposition will always claim that they have a strategy, they are living in a fantasy world, so we let them dream, it is free. And I think the President will win with more than…from my estimates, now I can reveal my strategy, I think maybe by more than one million votes this year, the difference with the next person who will follow us behind,” said Chama.