MINISTER of Transport and Communications Mutotwe Kafwaya says PF is able to win ward by-elections in Western Province because voters appreciate the development that the ruling party has taken to the area.

And Kafwaya says the process to attract a fourth mobile service operator to emerge in the ICT sector remains ongoing under ZICTA’s supervision.

Speaking when he featured on Oblete Radio Liseli in Mongu, Wednesday, Kafwaya wondered why the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema dissolved his structures which won him parliamentary elections and replaced them with structures which were losing by-elections in their stronghold.

“I am very sure that the people in Western Province are seeing the development. Here in Western Province, we had how many by-elections? We had six by-elections, the PF won five, the UPND won one. People are seeing that PF is up to development of this country and let me take the liberty to even thank the people of Sitoya ward, that is in Limulunga; Nakanya ward here in Mongu Central; the people of Silumbu ward in Sesheke; the people of Imusho, I will never forget Imusho, I love the area, I love the place, I hope I can go back quickly; the people of Nangweshi in Sioma, for voting PF because this is a demonstration that people, now, are seeing…And I wonder what is going to happen to the structures of UPND because if you recall, HH dissolved the UPND structures here in Western Province for poor performance and he said for poor performance. I even wondered because those are structures, which gave UPND all the MPs they have and he has put a new structure, which has lost how many wards at once?” Kafwaya wondered.

“They have lost five wards out of six, so is he also going to remove them? Listen, when we went to elections, Nalolo (constituency) here we had an independent; in Sioma, we had an independent, but all others it was UPND. Those are the structures, which gave him all those MPs, but they lost a ward in Sesheke he removes them and says, ‘no, these are not performing.’ But now, the ones he has put have lost five out of six, I wonder what is going to happen. But we are dealing with UPND, when it comes to these issues, unpredictable UPND.”

He further wondered why Choma Central UPND member of parliament Cornelius Mweetwa could call Vice-President Inonge Wina as shallow when he did not do the same for Hichilema, who he said spreads lies all the time.

“It is in UPND where you find an MP, who is of my age telling the Vice-President, 72-year-old woman, that she is shallow, a 72-year-old woman, who is your grandmother, who is the mother of the nation, you go and say, she is shallow, ‘this is a shallow woman’ and the Speaker even takes the liberty to say, ‘come and apologise’ and my friend says, ‘I can’t apologise.’ So, I tend to wonder, is this the same thing, is it similar to the Sakwiba Sikota story because you can’t tell such an old woman that you are shallow no matter how wrong she may be. And I even wonder, that MP is from Choma Central; if HH, who always tells lies, HH cheats all the time and we say that in Lusaka, he went to a road, which he was saying, ‘this road costs K1.2 billion when the road actually just cost K1 million, can he stand up and say, ‘HH is shallow,’ he can’t! But how attractive can it become for anyone of my age, honestly, to tell Her Honour, the Vice-President, that you are shallow?” Kafwaya asked.

And Kafwaya, who is also Lunte PF member of parliament, announced that he had ordered ZICTA to expedite the process for a fourth mobile operator to be identified and penetrate the ICT sector.

“There is need for a fourth mobile service provider, I think so without a shadow of doubt in my mind because as I said earlier, the fourth mobile provider will bring competition and when you have more competition, you have players racing for customers and when people begin to compete for customers, they begin to improve their appearance, they start to improve everything about them so that they become the company of choice. So, when you do that, it benefits the customers, it doesn’t necessarily benefit you because to improve your appearance, it’s a cost, you have to spend some money on yourself to improve quality of service, these mobile network providers have to spend a little more money and that spending is for the benefit of the Zambian people. So, I personally think that this must be done, and in fact when UZZI pulled out after they failed to meet the conditions we had set when we extended the licence, I directed ZICTA to advertise so that players can compete and we get a suitable player to come and be given a licence to become the fourth mobile operator,” said Kafwaya.