Patriotic Front Parliamentary deputy chief whip Tutwa Ngulube says those who are disputing that electricity load shedding has been caused by the low water levels should go and fill the Kariba Dam.

And Ngulube says the opposition in Zambia will never see the light of power for as long as they continued speaking “three languages on one tongue”.

Meanwhile, in reaction to President Edgar Lungu’s State of the Nation Address, Ngulube told parliament, Friday, that the speech was the best he had heard in his entire life.

“We cannot run away from the fact that the people of Zambia are crying about load shedding and yet somebody is saying there is no climate change. If there is no climate change, we are challenging you to go and fill up Kariba so that the people of Zambia can see. The people of Zambia should see that when you come into power, there will be no load shedding. We are also challenging you [that] if there is no load shedding, go and stop the floods and also bring the rains in some parts of the country. Mr Speaker, allow me also to state that those who deny that climatic conditions must stand on this House and tell the people of Zambia that if it wasn’t the rains that caused the droughts, what caused the droughts? I am aware that in 2016, somebody lost [elections], went to the ConCourt and didn’t know what to do because they didn’t know what 14 days meant,” Ngulube said.

And in clear reference to the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema while discussing the proposed amendments to the Constitution, Ngulube said the opposition that were against constitutional changes would always complain at every elections.

“People who thought they would go to State House using a court order are still crying. We are saying let’s make it 30 days because in 30 days, you can call all your witnesses. I want to be on record that come 2021, should we go for elections in 2021with this current constitution, the same people who were in casualties have remained casualties in ICU and will remain in ICU because this country’s constitution is not clear,” Ngulube said.

“So those who are saying that we should throw away Bill 10 must tell us why we should only be paying retirees who retired from 2016 going upwards, leaving the majority…of people from 20 years ago. Others are accused of privatization and we have a suspect in mind. Somebody is accused of having sold mining companies and become rich. We are saying why should all those who suffered from privatization not be on government payroll? I will tell you the truth; you will never see the light of power for as long as you remain inconsistent with speaking three languages in one tongue. The people of Zamia are looking for an opposition political party that will tell them that ‘the PF has failed here, when we come into power, we will do this and that’.”

He further denied sentiments that government was trying to take away parliamentary oversight powers.

“There is a politician Mr Speaker somewhere who has been losing elections. We are aware Mr Speaker that if there is a presidential petition, everything will come to a standstill. Mr Speaker, I am also aware that certain people have gone out to deceive others that this government wants to take away powers of this House, and give the powers to the President. There is no such a thing in Bill No.10. We must be factual and we must insist that let all those who love this country come and join hands with the Patriotic Front Government in refining this Constitution. Mr Speaker, I am also aware that there are certain political parties that do not have anything to do with any government programmes. They don’t attend National Day of Prayer, they don’t do any government holidays like Africa Freedom Day or Day of Independence and we are wondering when they come into power, how they will govern?” Ngulube asked.

He said the PF Government would follow the principles of refining the constitution and that “it can’t be possible for all the 17 million Zambian population to have an input in the process”.

“We will not pass a constitution that only benefits the particular opposition party of this time, the political party that is in power. We will resist it and insist that this government, the Patriotic Front Government, will follow the principles of constitutionalism. The constitution does not say that for you to change the constitution, you must bring to consensus all the people of Zambia. Mr Speaker, speaking as a lawyer and I want to be on record that even if we are 17 million people, it is not all the 17 million people who must talk on this matter because even in elections, it is not everybody who votes, we have a certain age. What would a four-year-old child be talking about the constitution? Let us be real and talk about things that affect this country,” Ngulube added.

Meanwhile, Ngulube told the House that President Lungu’s speech to parliament for this session of the National Assembly was the best.

“This is one of the best speeches that I have ever heard in my entire lifetime. And I am sure [that] I am still growing but I know that this will still remain the best speech for a long time to come. Mr Speaker, we have heard several people criticizing the speech by His Excellency the President and amongst the reasons [why] they are still criticizing such a beautiful speech is because they wanted the President to talk about [the] 48 houses. I think Zambia deserves better topics. The President, being citizen number one, deserves to tell the people of Zambia more serious topics. There is right now a much serious topic of climate change and we cannot allow people to say ‘because you didn’t mention corruption and 48 houses, then this speech is a bad speech’,” said Ngulube.