UPND National Chairperson Mutale Nalumango says since the Patriotic Front think the impeachment motion is laughable, they must laugh at it on the floor of the House instead of making undemocratic threats to deregister the largest opposition party.

Last week, PF Legal Committee Chairperson Brian Mundubile and Bwana Mkubwa PF member of parliament Dr Jonas Chanda held a press conference at the ruling party secretariat at which they threatened to deregister the opposition UPND if they find proof that it bribed MPs to impeach President Edgar Lungu.

“I just want to urge members of parliament whether from UPND, MMD, FDD or PF that when somebody trys to bribe you for something, just tell them that ‘I am not for sale’, we are not for sale. We got the mandate from the people to represent them. And if these things are proven and I would urge the Minister of Home Affairs to investigate very seriously, if all these allegations are proven, we shall seriously call for the deregistration of UPND which means they are not adding value to the political discourse,” said Chanda.

But in an interview, Nalumango wondered why there was too much panic in the PF over an impeachment motion which they described as ‘Brought In Dead’.

“Do you get so mad with a laughable thing? For a frivolous thing, do you get so mad if there are no issues in the motion? Why are they panicking if the motion is laughable? Hakainde is a law abiding citizen, he just did what should have been done. And this is why every Zambian must rise. You cannot deregister the biggest opposition political party. That is not democracy. PF is in power because of democracy. How can they want to close the same way they used when coming into power? How dare they! They came through the process of democracy, and they cannot kill democracy. Nobody should suffer. If they are saying that it’s a brought in dead, why the panic?” Nalumango asked.

Nalumango also said that it was constitutional to lobby support from other MPs but distanced her party from any corrupt acts.

“Impeachment is a constitutional provision and even lobbying other MPs is part of parliamentary work, to convince them. UPND will never involve itself in corruption. Corruption is a home for PF. What are they investigating? Has Hakainde said he is not part of the impeachment? Has UPND said it is not part of the impeachment? Do we have to pay our own members? To defend the constitution is what every member of parliament swore to. But we are not going to pay them to perform their duties, we are not going to bribe them to perform their duties. We are not going to give anybody such kind of money to perform their duties which they promised to the Zambians,” she said.

And Nalumango said Zambians should not entertain calls to ban UPND over lawful parliamentary work.

“No Zambian should entertain a thought to ban the biggest political party. Which law are they going to use to deregister UPND over lawful parliamentary work? They have failed to find means to create a one party state because they have no capacity as Wynter Kabimba said. They have failed, now they want to use backdoor. Everything that has been done regarding to the impeachment has been lawfully done according to the procedure of parliament. So what are they going to investigate? How can a lawyer like Mundubile say the motion is laughable? If it is laughable let them laugh in parliament and prove there is no substance. Let them prove it on the floor of the House,” said Nalumango.