PF Secretary General Davies Mwila has boasted that the ruling party’s Lubwa ward victory has re-affirmed that it is still the party of choice on the Copperbelt.

And Mwila says the PF has gained gained tremendous ground in Katuba adding that there was a wind of change in Western Province.

Meanwhile, Mwila said if members of parliament decide to vote in favor of the re-introduction of deputy ministers, the party will ask President Edgar Lungu not to implement it.

At a press briefing on the just ended by-elections, Wednesday, Mwila said the UPND would have a “smaller map” by 2021 because the ruling party was gaining ground in its strongholds.

“The result of the Katuba election may have marginally gone against us, but the trend is hugely in our favour and against UPND. While it may appear on the surface that we lost this particular election, the truth is that our roots have gone deeper and we have gained unstoppable momentum. We have gained a significantly bigger share of the votes, while UPND have had their margin terminally eroded. In short, UPND’s electoral map will be much smaller in 2021 than it was in 2016. The Lubwa Ward result in Kitwe re-affirms the fact that PF continues to be the party of choice on the Copperbelt. It also confirms that the Roan Constituency by-election was a protest vote, and that once government addresses the issues, Roan will go back to PF in 2021,” Mwila said.

“We are grateful for the people of Shiwangandu and Muchinga Province in general and Mansa and Luapula in general for keeping the faith with PF. However we will not be complacent in our strongholds, we will continue to entrench and fortify ourselves. We are grateful to the all the people in these regions for making and maintaining PF as their number one party of choice.”

Mwila also said he was aware of an attack by suspected PF cadres on two Zambia Daily Mail employees in Katuba.

“First and foremost, I want to say that I got that information around 22:00 hours about the incidence that happened in Katuba. That was at night but I wouldn’t confirm if they are PF or not. So we have started an investigation to establish who attacked the Daily Mail reporter but above all, we have to condemn the acts of violence at all costs, whether this is coming from PF or the UPND because we want peaceful campaigns. We don’t want violence, the President, Mr Edgar Lungu, has been preaching peace and we as followers we have to follow the instructions from the head of state,” he said.

And Mwila said there was a wind of change blowing in the Western Province, bragging that the party had continued gaining momentum in opposition strongholds.

“The PF development agenda is blowing a wind of change in former opposition strongholds. It is a fact that Western Province is no longer a UPND stronghold. Our victory last year in Mangango Constituency signified the turning point of the momentum in the Province in favour of PF. The clean sweep we enjoyed yesterday in the three ward by-elections confirms that the recent Sesheke by-election was just a fluke for UPND and a mere setback for PF. Going by this trend, we project that in 2021, PF will win majority Parliamentary seats in Western Province. We therefore urge our colleagues in the UPND especially MPs along the line of rail to wake up and smell the coffee. We are therefore advising Western Province opposition MPs to think twice and start working with the ruling Party in order to deliver the much needed development to the people,” he advised.

And reacting to Luangeni PF MP Charles Zulu’s statement in support of the re-introduction of deputy ministers, the Mwila said that the party had made a decision which it would stand by.

“The Zambian people have made it very clear that they don’t want to introduce deputy ministers and as a party, we have heard the cry of the people and the members of parliament are free to make their own decisions in parliament and moreover, if they decide to enact in parliament, we will tell Edgar Lungu and government not to implement because we don’t want as a party. Because if we don’t have the money, we have put in place austerity measures, to reduce on costs and how do we bring in deputy ministers, we are contradicting ourselves. The economy has to stabilise and that is the focus of government,” said Mwila.