The Felix Mutati-led MMD faction says it will field a presidential candidate in 2021 and it is very confident of winning the polls.

Speaking when he featured on Muvi TV’s The Assignment program, Sunday, MMD national secretary Rapheal Nakacinda said the party was definitely contesting the 2021 elections.

“We will definitely be contesting elections but the form that it will take will determine on the work that we are putting in. That’s why the message, wherever we are going, we are encouraging the members of the party, I should not mince my words, we are encouraging the members of the party to work hard, extra hard to build the machinery of the party. For us, we don’t have the luxury that the other political parties which are new on the scene have because for us it is expected that for us we should present ourselves as people who know, people who are mature because we have been in existence for 28 years now and we have also been privileged in 28 years to have been in government for 20 years. Therefore, if as National Secretary I am going to pronounce myself that we are going to participate in an election by way of fielding a presidential candidate, I should be confident that the efforts we have applied in building the machinery of the party is such that it gives us the confidence to say that when we feature a presidential candidate, we are able to win,” Nakacinda said.

Asked how confident he was that the party’s presidential candidate could win, Nakacinda said confidence was building.

“The confidence for now is building because the efforts of rebuilding the party are still on going. I think you can notice that from the way I interacted with you a few months ago, possibly I am not interacting with you in the same spirit. The confidence levels are increasing,” he said.

“But the Zambian people must not put a tag on us that because we are in a working relationship with the Patriotic Front, therefore we don’t have the right to mobilize, therefore we don’t have to even think of the future. The same courage we summoned to say that we are going to work with the Patriotic Front in 2016, that same courage will be summoned for us to determine how we are going to approach 2021.”

Asked his MMD faction would do differently than the PF, Nakacinda said; “First of all I think you have to spare me that question because we already have a running relationship and we presented a manifesto, more or less, together with the Patriotic Front in 2016 which we are pushing to make sure it works for the interest of the Zambian people but we still retain the independence of the political party…I cannot suggest that everything is perfect [in our relationship with PF] but we went into an election together and we achieved 50 per cent plus one and President Edgar Lungu is in the saddle. We have a duty to ensure that the presidency we produced delivers to the expectations of the Zambian people for now.”

Nakacinda said his party would not hesitate to part ways with the PF if the later failed to adhere to promises which they made together in 2016.

“When it comes to pushing the PF to deliver on what we promised, we are privileged the fact that we cab sit with the PF and we can be able to challenge them to say ‘I think this and this, it is expected of you to deliver to the expectation of the Zambian people be use that’s what you promised. And if for example they do not do that, we even have more right and authority, having related with them to say ‘I think we tried to push this agenda together but it didn’t work’. In terms of distinction, MMD is known for what the party stands for, the ideology of the party, we are not new to the Zambian people, we have been in government for 20 years,” said Nakacinda.