DEPUTY government Chief Whip, Tutwa Ngulube says it will be disastrous for Zambia if the Patriotic Front loses the next election because a lot of projects would remain unfinished. According to him, this is the more reason why the people of Zambia must vote back the ruling party if they do not want to lose out. Further, the Kabwe member of parliament says if PF loses power, donors will withhold aid from Zambia.

TUTWA Ngulube: “It will be disastrous if PF does not bounce back. The implications will be disastrous. All these things (projects) I have talked about will come to a standstill. And also, the people would have lost. Because when you change a government, everything, including the donors and everyone will put their hands in the pocket to wait and see what is happening. In the process, it will be the people that will suffer. So the people right now have all the reasons to vote the PF back into office. I don’t think any other government can perform better or faster than the PF. In the event that the people of Zambia are doubting, let them compare the opposition parties that we have, none of them have managed to produce a manifesto. The PF has given us hope that we can create a Zambia that we have always dreamt about. In a nutshell, there is no better party than the PF. I don’t think there is any political party that will uplift the people’s hopes within three months.”

We agree with those who are saying Honourable Ngulube’s statement is a shameless lie laced with a lot of ignorance. To suggest that donor countries will withhold their support to Zambia if the Patriotic Front loses elections is as ridiculous as telling the residents of Kabwe Central that if Tutwa Ngulube loses election, they will suffer. It’s unforgivable for the Patriotic Front to paint a picture that they are the saviours, when in fact they are the causers of the people’s sufferings.

Honourable Ngulube must not lie that unfinished projects will be abandoned if the people of Zambia do not vote back the Patriotic Front. There will never be a time when the government will finish all its projects in preparation for handover to the next leadership. That is not how politics and governance work. So what the Kabwe MP is saying is nothing but cheap lies.

There is no disaster that will befall Zambia if the Patriotic Front loses elections. Zambia is bigger than the PF, it was there long before the ruling party was formed and it shall remain long after the current leaders are gone. In fact Zambia is in bad shape today because of the Patriotic Front’s poor leadership. The debt mountain, the depreciation of the kwacha, the unbearable cost of food commodities, the unprecedented levels of corruption are all fruits of the PF administration. How can Zambia suffer if the PF loses power? How can donors withdraw aid if such a fiscally undisciplined regime was removed?

Honourable Ngulube must make no mistake; if there is anyone who will suffer if PF loses power, it is those people who are benefiting from the government like Tutwa himself. When PF loses power, things will turn disastrous for a lot of these people who are very vocal today. Some will be arrested the very next day because they have been engaging in criminal activities. 90 per cent of PF ministers and MPs cannot justify the wealth they have today. Those are the people who will face a disaster.

In fact, the disaster will start on Tuesday next week when Parliament dissolves. In just four days from now, there will be no minister in office. There will only be bo Inonge Wina and her boss in office. There will be no Honourable Kampyongo or Honourable Malanji. There will be no president of Lusaka, or bulldozer or Jean the Baptist. By Tuesday next week, all ministers will be ordinary citizens with all their titles stripped off. We will be equal!

For others, in fact, the disaster has already started because the ruling party has discarded them. Some of the most powerful people in government are already devastated because reality has downed already that they will no longer be in the next Parliament come August, while for some, their careers have come to an end. This is what happens in politics.

We are going back to the drawing board next week. The power that ministers have been abusing will be taken away. This is what we have always been warning our politicians about. We told them that power belongs to the people and a time always comes when that power is taken away. It is happening this coming Tuesday, time for reckoning is here!