UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema says it’s not the UPND that is losing when the PF wins elections, but the people of Zambia, adding that citizens will continue losing until they “stand up to the nonsense like Malawians did when their election was stolen”

And Hichilema says he is having sleepless nights because he is thinking of how God will allow him to takeover the country’s leadership so that he can take away the people’s suffering.

Meanwhile, Hichilema says President Edgar Lungu is the one spreading COVID-19 as evidenced by the huge crowds that accompanied him to the commissioning of the Makeni overpass on Monday.

Speaking when he featured on Chingola’s I-wave Radio, Tuesday, Hichilema Zambians had suffered enough at the hands of the Patriotic Front government.

“Umutima ulekalipa ngatwaumfwa ama callers abengi baleilishanya. Nshilala no kulala bwino bwino ngabaleilishanya. Nganaya ku bed ndentontokanya (My heart bleeds when I hear people calling in complaining. I hardly sleep when they complain. When I go to bed, I keep thinking) how God should allow us to take over this country and solve the people’s problems. Abantu balila pafula. Ningumfwa naine ndelila nshilala noku lala. (People have cried, enough is enough. I have heard your cries, I hardly sleep). Illegal miners, we will give you licenses. You will become legal miners,” said Hichilema.

When asked to enlighten the people why UPND lost the by-elections in its strongholds, Hichilema said it was not the UPND losing but the people of Zambia, adding that they would continue to lose until they stand up to the nonsense like Malawi did.

“If you look at COVID, we are not allowed to campaign. We are asked to respect the health guidelines and as obedient citizens, we follow those guidelines. What we saw is that the PF will be campaigning, when we want to campaign, they send police on us, they send cadres on us. What are we supposed to do? To fight back? To kill each other? No. We are supposed to be responsible but they are driving us to extremes now. And then we have the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), a government department that is distributing mealie meal; teku wina uko ( that is not winning), it is deception. It is not the UPND that lost, it is the people of Zambia that will continue to lose until they stand up and say ‘we will not allow this nonsense to continue’, as the people of Malawi did when the election was stolen. I call on the people of Zambia, don’t misinterpret those by- elections. I want to remind you that when a government is losing, it does all sorts of things, it buys people,” Hichilema said.

“If you remember before 2011, 23 members of parliament of PF were bought by the MMD government. MMD was winning by-elections, almost all of them and when 2011 came, the people had the last laugh, change came. It is not different now. You can buy councillors as you wish, you can manipulate people as you wish,ngabamipela impiya abena PF pokeni (If they give you money, get it). Zambia pokeni, ngabami pela ubunga, sendeni ( if they give you mealie meal get it). Use their slogan Donchi Kubeba. That is your mealie meal. But you should know the general election is coming in 2021. PF, whether they like it or not, kuya bebele (they have to go), there is no other way. So there is no issue of saying UPND lost, it is the people of Zambia and the UPND that are being deceived as the MMD was deceiving the people in 2011.”

He said UPND members were being arrested when they tried to hold intra party elections.

“In Western Province, the ruling party came to win by-elections there. If you remember before 2016, PF won Mangango parliamentary by-elections, they won Mulobezi by-elections, they won Mongu Central. The PF had three parliamentary seats before the 2015 elections and when the general election came, how many MPs did PF have? Zero! We beat them everywhere, even in the wards like Mangango, the one they won one year before the elections. When we came in 2016, we beat them like they didn’t exist; it will be the same thing in 2021. I want the people of Zambia not to lose sight of history when a government is about to leave office, like PF is about to leave office. If they say they won those elections, look at the total numbers, very small numbers. And on the other hand, we want to hold our intra party elections, baletukanya, baletukaka (they are refusing us, they are arresting us.) Ten days ago, our people who were holding intra party elections in Chililabombwe, even when they were practicing social distancing and masking up, our people were arrested,”

And Hichilema said the PF was risking the lives of people and wondered why Health Minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya did not advise President Lungu not to attend the commissioning of the Makeni overpass.

“We are geared. We go through a lot of challenges. COVID is creating problems for all of us except those in the ruling party who are ignoring the COVID challenges who are actually becoming carriers of the COVID virus because they are mingling in big crowds like yesterday in Lusaka, you saw it on television. Without social distancing, without masks, basically transmitting COVID and Mr Lungu was there himself. The one who is supposed to protect our people is the one exposing our people to death. And you know, there are a lot of cases in Lusaka. A lot of them are being taken to the hospital dead. And you see a leadership that doesn’t care about the welfare of the people but exposing people to the virus. These are the challenges we are having,” Hichilema said.

He said President Lungu was the one spreading the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They are the ones transmitting COVID-19, risking the lives of our people. Chitalu Chilufya is telling us not to go to funerals, not to gather at Chilanga Mulilos and weddings but what did he do at the Magistrate Court himself? He took cadres without masks and social distancing. We must practice what we preach. You are exposing people to death, you are not a leader, you are masquerading as a leader. What did Mr Lungu do yesterday (Monday)? Why didn’t Chilufya tell his President that he must not go to that function with hundreds of people who were so close to each other? After that function, they went back to their homes and they could have carried the virus. So who is transmitting the virus in this country? It is the PF and leaders of PF. Chilufya must tell the President to stop what he is doing, he will cause the death of many people,” Dr Chilufya said.

“When leaders are doing wrong things, followers will do the wrong things as well. Then you blame followers? No. This is the lack of leadership we talk about. The President was the one transmitting COVID yesterday (Monday) at the Kafue bridge. They must lead by example, this is not happening under PF, that is why everything has broken down; Chingola is broken down, Copperbelt is broken down, Zambia is broken down because we don’t have leadership. We have never suffered like this because there is no leadership.”