Kabwe Central PF member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube says Zambia must expect worse if UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is to become Republican President because the man is already showing symptoms of bad leadership by peddling lies.

And Ngulube says there is too much indiscipline among PF MPs as most of them are not focused on development, but instead positioning themselves to be adopted in 2021.

Speaking when he featured on UNZA Radio’s Lusaka Star programme, Tuesday, Ngulube said it was unfortunate that Hichilema, who was aspiring for the highest office, could be summoned by police for peddling lies.

He argued that Zambians should, therefore, expect worse from Hichilema should he be elected Zambia’s seventh Republican President in 2021.

“Of course, it’s a belief to say, ‘yes, the Chinese are corrupt’ or are cutting deals, but at the end of the day, you cannot, and you should not lie to Zambians. It’s unfortunate that a man who aspires for the highest office in the land, like HH, can be summoned to the police. It means that there is something wrong. If he sits down and analyses the situation, I think even himself should know that certain allegations should not come from him. It’s unfortunate that a person who wants to be President can be accused of telling lies or can be accused of inciting people to riot. It means then that when he becomes President, we might have a situation worse than that or it means then that you are not doing your politics according to the book,” Ngulube said.

And Ngulube said there was a lot of tension among PF MPs as some had already started grooming their own people to take over fellow MPs’ constituencies in 2021.

“What is going on in Central Province is very unfortunate because we have some members of parliament who want to choose successors to fellow members of parliament. So, we have a situation where some members of parliament have started grooming potential members of parliament for 2021, and this is causing a lot of tension because a member of parliament has his own constituency. He cannot go into another constituency and start forming branches and wards, and also, he cannot start inciting people to rise against their own members of parliament! So, I think that is partly what contributed to those differences [at the Vice-President’s official residency] because it has been going on for a while, but we are humans and when you get to a certain level, people begin to get emotional. And, as at now, what is happening if you note is that, the majority of members of parliament are not even delivering development. They are actually spending so much time worrying about what will happen in 2021 and it’s very sad,” Ngulube revealed.

He said interfering with other people’s constituency operations was a sign of political immaturity.

“You know, the biggest problem that we have is indiscipline, and I think the party secretary general [Davies Mwila] has mentioned [and] the President has insisted that all those undisciplined members of parliament will not be adopted in 2021. I think that’s the statement that the President made in Ndola or in Kitwe when he went to commission a tall gate. And I support that motion by the President. We cannot have members of parliament trying to interfere in intra-party elections; we cannot have members of parliament trying to create divisions in other constituencies. I think it’s a sign of political immaturity because if you have your own constituency, why should you worry about what is happening in other constituencies? Because in 2021, you will also be judged by your own voters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ngulube endorsed the government’s move to list ZAFFICO on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE).

“It’s unfortunate that some people are peddling lies that ZAFFICO has been sold and what we hear is that ZAFFICO has been listed on the stock market. [And] maybe, just to guide people who might not know what listing on the stock exchange means. The listing of a company means that the company is opening its shares for people who want to invest monies in that company, to bring their monies and also participate as shareholders. So, if ZAFFICO is going to have an opportunity to trade on the stock market, we believe it’s going to raise enough income for its operation and also for its investment because ZAFFICO, as you may know, is a company that was for a very long time in a comma. ZAFFICO was dead [and] it had to take the government to start pumping in money for ZAFFICO to wake up and start doing what it is doing. So, government cannot continue funding ZAFFICO. ZAFFICO must, on its own initative, begin to raise monies to invest in the Kawambwa Tea plantation, to invest in whichever area they want to invest,” said Ngulube.

“So, if ZAFFICO can explain to the people why it has decided to list? Which areas of priority it is going to have? It will be very easy because for politicians, the listing of a company on stock market means it has been sold. What we need to do right now is maybe to ask the Chief Government Spokesperson (Dora Siliya) to tell the nation on what the status of ZAFFICO is? I know that the issue came up on the floor of Parliament and it was clarified, but maybe for those that didn’t hear what Parliament was told, the listing of ZAFFICO does not amount to a sale!”