PF deputy national chairperson Davies Chama says Zambians should not expect their lives to change just because there is a new government if they don’t work hard at individual level.
And Chama says PF will bounce back in a bigger way following its loss to the UPND in the recently held general elections.
In an interview, Monday, Chama said as long as there was no mindset change and people did not work hard at individual levels, they would soon start regretting the change of government.
“Let me say that the PF came to change this country, to better the lives of the Zambian people. We have transformed this country beyond recognition in a short period of time. But you see, any transformation of a country without changing the mindset of the people to work hard and transform their individual lives will be in vain. It is up to the change of mindset of individuals, to change and transform their individual lives, to work hard, to utilise the opportunities that the government will make available to change your individual lives. If they expect there will be a messiah somewhere who will come to change your lives, I can bet with you that very shortly people will start regretting the change of government. I can bet with anybody, they will start regretting the change of government. So those who don’t want to work hard, they can celebrate that the party that came to transform government has been voted out of power,” Chama said.
“They can celebrate but as long as they don’t change their attitude to work hard at an individual level, I can bet with anybody, a few days from now their lives will not change, one year from now their lives will not change. It will even get worse, mark my words. It will even get worse and worse and they will remember the PF government that has worked hard to transform this country. Yes, people have rejected development, they have accepted violence as a way of their life, they have accepted destruction of the country and I am not ashamed to state what I am saying. If people are expecting that a messiah from heaven has come, my friend, I can even drink my wine and say waloba ilyabola.”
And Chama expressed optimism that his party would bounce back in a bigger way.
“I am telling you, what we have done, people will remember it. We have put a landmark that has never been done in this country ever before in a short period of time. We have put a landmark anywhere you go, to the South, to the West, to the East, to the North. We have put a landmark, we have put a foundation on which the nation has to be built. And I hope the foundation we have done will not be destroyed. And I tell you that the PF will bounce back in a bigger way because sooner or later people will start saying we know,” he said.
“You know, the word of God is very powerful too. In the Bible, the Lord that we worship, Jesus Christ the son of the living God, when he was about to be crucified, the king at the time brought him out and also brought out a criminal by the name of Barabbas. This criminal used to kill people, used to steal from the people, he was brought out of jail and the two were put before the people. The rulers at that time asked the people ‘between these two, who do you want and who do you reject’? They rejected the son of God and said ‘give us Barabbas and crucify Jesus’. Only after they crucified Jesus then they realised how wrong they were. So the Bible has a lot of messages. Even today and for me, I always sat on the word of God because we love the Zambian people very much.”
Chama also condemned the looting and vandalising of shops at ECL Mall on the Copperbelt Province.
“What is saddening today though is that I was just watching on social media where people have started breaking shops. ECL Mall in Kitwe has been vandalised, shops broken, damaged. Is that what we voted for? Is that what people voted for? It is very sad that people have started breaking shops and started taking us 15 or 30 years backward. That is not the kind of politics we know. Politics of bitterness won’t take this country forward. I can bet with anybody that if they want to destroy this country, we will not allow it. We will not allow it as Zambians because Zambia is a peaceful country and it should remain so,” he said.
“In the night, people came trying to attack me at home. In the night people came to my house, I had to fire gunshots and that’s how they dispersed. Is this what we are voting for? UNIP was removed by MMD, did you ever hear MMD going after UNIP who tormented them? In 2011 we removed MMD from power as the Patriotic Front, did you ever hear PF officials or cadres going after the MMD? Did you ever hear PF destroying property, breaking shops, infrastructure that was left by MMD, no! What is this? Anyway, I leave it to the Zambian people to judge and for you the people in the media to judge.”
Chama further asked the media to remain objective and to continue providing checks and balances.
“You people in the media were controversial at our time because you have people who are not very tolerant. I hope you remain steadfast to be objective as possible, to provide the checks and balances and I hope you do it without fear or favor to protect this country and to protect the Zambian people. You need to be truthful as you do your reporting. This is time for us to start talking now and telling the Zambian people that we meant well and we were a serious leadership. This was a very serious leadership but sometimes if you are serious and want to move things, you will be misunderstood,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chama stated that to some extent, natural calamities like droughts and COVID-19 contributed to PF’s loss because some people did not understand their impact on the country’s economy.
“During the journey, there will be a lot of setbacks. It’s life, be it a family, an individual. You get sick sometimes, you go into hospital, you get well and become productive. Equally, as a nation you might experience a lot of calamities: the droughts, sometimes load shedding and today we are grappling with COVID-19. And it’s unfortunate we have lost our beloved ones because of this pandemic which has affected this country. Who doesn’t know that Zambia is a landlocked country and has been affected by these calamities?” asked Chama.
“But if someone is not reasonable enough to know that there are these problems that the country has been grappling with and want to blame people who are in the government that they are responsible for these calamities, we are not God, we are not perfect. We are just human, so we live it to them, the Zambian people and that’s why I’m saying sooner than later, people will start seeing through the lies that they have been told. Certainly, it contributed to a certain extent to people who cannot understand that these calamities are global and can affect the nation very negatively because most of the things we import.”
One Response
Chama is defiant! He doesn’t understand or deliberately ignores the huge negative impact his government’s corruption, abuse of office, lack of priorities, etc on the populace. He is still arrogant and thinks the Zambian people are fools who made a wrong decision to remove of out of power. It is this same arrogance and taking people for fools that led his party to be rejected across the country. He is not even ashamed of his party’s loss, let alone it’s extremely poor showing. Time will tell. Let the investigative wings begin to work.