PF media director Sunday Chanda says the UPND and its leader Hakainde Hichilema will fall harder in 2021 because they have lost grip of Western and North-Western provinces.

In a statement, Sunday, Chanda stated that the grassroots election losses suffered by the UPND were a sign that they had lost the old claimed hegemony in the two provinces.

“As the grassroots continue to speak both through the ballot as well as through the unending streams of mass defections from the UPND structures and ordinary members; the signs are all-too clear that HH and his UPND will fall harder in 2021. This is because, the UPND’s old claimed hegemony in North Western and Western Provinces no longer stands given the grassroots election losses suffered by the UPND over a long period now…The grassroots have spoken, and shall emphatically do so again in 2021, that: All they want is shared peace, national unity, and the visible development the ruling Patriotic Front is implementing; what they do NOT want, however, is the alternative being offered by HH and his UPND, namely; insults, divisiveness, bitterness, tribalism and regionalism, and as a result, underdevelopment! Therefore, for HH and his UPND, 2021 it is a case of “things fall apart”, to borrow the words of a great African writer. We are therefore calling on all Patriotic Zambians to ensure they register to vote – and vote for Development in 2021!” Chanda stated.

“Over the last couple of months, the nation has witnessed the ‘readings’ from a grassroots political “thermometer” (i.e. Ward, District and Parliamentary elections) which brought to light two (02) important facts. Firstly, the continued ascendancy of the ruling Patriotic Front in areas which the UPND claimed were their undisputed strongholds. The second fact the recent grassroots elections revealed is that, HH and his UPND have lost the hearts of the majority of our people on the ground in North Western and Western Provinces, among others. Numbers do not lie! The Ward, District and Parliamentary elections have emphatically spoken, and have poked serious holes in a great UPND fallacy that they remain intact and unchallenged on the ground in North Western and Western Provinces, among other areas.”

He stated Hichilema’s “unstatesmanlike demeanour” was an assurance of his fall in 2021.

“In addition to the above-mentioned dwindling political impact at grassroots level in the so-called UPND strongholds, HH’s unstatesmanlike demeanour has assured him of his cataclysmic fall in 2021. True to his un-statesman, divisive and tribal credentials; HH has committed political suicide by actively “endorsing” and managing a coalition of persons to insult the Mwine Lubemba Chitimukulu – with the Chief insultant being his Deputy Secretary General Patrick Mucheleka. Mr. Hichilema has gone further to promote a culture of insults among his followers. It is no wonder that everyone being arrested for insulting President Edgar Lungu is Mr. Hichilema’s adent follower. The majority of Zambians do not subscribe to HH’s anarchist, divisive, vindictive, regional and tribal politics because, We Are “One Zambia, One Nation”,” stated Chanda.

“PF’s development agenda in all the ten (10) provinces of Zambia coupled with the leadership provided by President Lungu during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes more difficult for UPND to convince majority Zambians otherwise. Between politics of insults and politics of development, we have no doubt that Zambians have embraced PF’s transformational agenda. In view of the above, 2021 will be a case of déjà vu for Mr. Hichilema and his UPND because it will be a repeat of their losses in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016 – and the only difference this time is that, it will be a more cataclysmic record sixth-straight loss for the UPND.”