Kabwe Central PF member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube says the ruling party can discipline him if it wants but he will not stop speaking out on things which are going wrong.

And Ngulube says the PF is getting destroyed because people spend too much time spreading lies on social media.

Meanwhile, Ngulube says the PF must start holding quarterly meetings at various levels in order to ensure uniformity of policies.

Last week Wednesday, Kabwe Central PF chairperson Andrew Sinyangwe warned that if Ngulube continued making statements against government, he would be suspended or expelled from the ruling party.

Sinyangwe was referring to Ngulube’s statements on the late delivery of farming inputs.

Sinyangwe reacting to Sinyagwe’s threats, Ngulube said it would not make sense for an MP to dose off whilst his people were suffering.

“They can discipline me if they want. I have actually said time and again that when you make a statement, for instance, I made a statement that the people of Kabwe Central have suffered for four years now, no fertiliser, no inputs, I normally visit those farms. People have been reduced to beggars…when we blow the whistle like that, we are actually opening peoples ears and saying gentlemen, if you have been sending money to Kabwe, why are people not benefitting? If you just keep quiet and dose off and snore, are we helping the situation?” Ngulube asked.

“By speaking, we are also helping government account for the money that it is sending to these banks. And for those who think I am speaking against my own government, they must be mistaken because I am full time PF. If I did not totally agree with the way PF is doing business, I can resign, nothing is stopping me from resigning.”

He vowed to continue speaking the truth.

“I will not keep quiet, I will not be intimidated, I will not fear to walk in the dark because I am the only one walking in the dark. I will make sure if it means falling in a ditch because I have told the truth, let me fall in the ditch, I think that is how we should look at things. Sometimes people want to associate the truth with frustration…the truth of the matter is that when something is wrong we should mention. When I first raised the issue of e-voucher with the Minister of Agriculture, she sent a team to Kabwe, the PS was there and at least now some people have started receiving inputs,” Ngulube said when he featured on Pan African Radio, Friday.

Asked if he agreed with the way the PF was governing, Ngulube said; “Yes, I agree…from the look of things, the PF has done much more prograss in this country than any other government would have done…Without the PF, some people of Chama would never have seen a tarmac. So the PF has done great in many areas. I will give you another example of a project that I personally appreciate, the dual carriageway from Lusaka to Ndola, look at how it has managed to decongest just this stretch from here to 10 miles, we can even do 150, 120 Km/h because the PF has done well in that area. We have a lot of other areas where the PF has done extremely well, no one can match the progress.”

He however said government should listen when people offer advise in areas where it was failing.

“So when we point to small things like the e-voucher programme, it doesn’t mean that we are saying the PF has failed, the PF is one of the most pragmatic governments that has ever served the people of Zambia. Right now, we have the cleaning exercise, the President leaves the comfort of State House to come and sit with the people to make sure that cholera is eradicated, those are some of the things we can point to and say the PF is a hardworking government,” Ngulube said.

And Ngulube said PF was getting destroyed because people spent too much time telling lies on social media.

“Now, the only thing that is destroying the PF today, and I want to repeat, there is too much bickering and rumour mongering. Lies! We spend so much time on WhatsApp telling lies about others,” he said.

“We spend so much time on social media say ‘today whom are we going to conflict with the government, whom are we going to lie against today?’ just now I was looking at one of the [WhatsApp] groups to which I belong where someone is telling people that he saw me flashing an NDC symbol yesterday. Everybody, including the police, paramilitary, the OP, PF members who were there in Kabwe, ask them if I ever flashed a UPND symbol or NDC symbol. The only symbol I flashed yesterday was a PF symbol because I was approaching a PF stronghold. Let us not destroy the PF, allow people with divergent views like myself. Whenever I think it is wrong, we do speak freely. Allow us to speak freely.”

Meanwhile, Ngulube suggested quarterly PF meetings to ensure that members were on the same page when implementing projects.

“On the issue of land, even honourable MP for Mpulungu Freedom Sikazwe who is the Minister of Presidential Affairs, was battling with a similar problem, with him it is 1,000 people to be displaced, with me it was more than 800 families, about 10,000 people who would have been removed from one area. Honorable Jonas Chanda in Ndola MP for Bwana Mukubwa constituency was also fighting for his people where foreigners have come to erase our ramshackles so that they can put up their super structures. We had so many issues where MPs are fighting for their voters. What this shows you is that we are not singing from the same hymn book,” said Ngulube.

“My personal opinion is that as PF members, we should be having quarterly meetings. For example, Central Province MPs will meet with their mayors and everybody ton deliberate so that we can at least have sight of whatever activities are supposed to happen in a particular area because it is quite embarrassing for local people to be displaced in preference for foreigners.”