PATRIOTIC Front secretary general Davies Mwila says he does not expect the people of Kasama to tolerate the behaviour exhibited by the UPND in Monze District who booed President Edgar Lungu during a tour.

And Mwila says he wants to see party functionaries involved in the NRC issuance exercise so that PF can register as many voters as possible.

Speaking when he met party officials in Kasama, Wednesday, Mwila charged that the UPND was a stupid party.

“We are heading for the general elections and I expect active soldiers (party cadres) abali (who) are serious. Filya balechita ba UPND ku Monze (what UPND did in Monze) I don’t expect them to do it here. I am telling you as the chief executive of the party. Filya fyakutila balepena pena kulya (the misbehaviour depicted by the UPND) this is our stronghold! Bafwile baisa naba ichindika (They have to respect themselves when they come here); this is our stronghold. Ba UPND, I can tell you I don’t need to tell the camera to be [switched off] balintumpa ngamwabalekelesha! Ifi fine ndemweba efyo baba. Ngamwabalekelesha isuleni amenso. (The UPND are stupid when you let them go scot-free! What I am telling you is how they are. Open your eyes.) We want civility in politics,” Mwila said.

“The people of Lukashya will vote for us based on what we have done to them. Telubuli awe, fiko (We don’t get involved in fights. That is dirt). We are a peaceful party and no one should provoke us. That incident that happened in Monze, no one has stood up to condemn, even the NGOs have kept quiet. I have talked about the adoption process; I have put up an advert; it started running yesterday (Tuesday) it will run for about 10 days.”

Mwila said the ruling party had also started preparing their manifesto for the year 2021 to 2026, while the UPND were merely propagating propaganda on social media.

“The opposition should come and point, but I want to talk to the people of Lukashya: with the PF, you are in safe hands. President Lungu doesn’t want to leave anyone behind when it comes to development. The developmental agenda that we have is very clear as PF through our manifesto from 2016 to 2021. And mind you, we have started preparing another manifesto for 2021 to 2026 efyo party yamano yaba (That is what a reasonable party does). You can leave them in social media; they can do their propaganda; they did a propaganda in Serenje that baletupepeka (that they were being chased) they lost the election,” Mwila argued.

He said that the UPND would only remain with Southern Province as their stronghold.

“In Western Province, that is where I am going; they have lost ground. But we have to encourage our people. Tulefwaya tukabashe na Southern Province, chapwa [by] 10:00 election, naipwa. (We want to leave Southern Province for them. By 10:00 the elections will be over),” he said.

Mwila said that the UPND would be the one who would suffer because the 14 days’ petition period to challenge disputed presidential election results would be insufficient for them.

“They have been against Bill 10 and I want to tell them in 2016 when they petitioned, the current Constitution said: ‘the matter should be disposed off within 14 days.’ 14 days tabachitile nangu chimo paka ba court baisa chita rule chapwa baposa nomulandu. (When the 14-day period of petition came up in the last election, the UPND did not do anything in the scheduled time and the court disposed off the case). In this Bill 10, we have increased the number of days from 14 to 30 days; who is going to suffer? Because we are going to defeat them next year when they run to court, they will find the 14 days. They think they are clever? We are ready to win the 2021 elections because of what we have done to the people of Zambia,” Mwila added.

And speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the Northern Province Minister Lazarous Chungu, Mwila explained that he was touring the District to prepare for the upcoming Lukashya by-election.

“We are here to prepare ourselves for the upcoming by-elections. We lost our colleague honorable Munkonge, but pafwa abantu pashala abantu (when a person dies, he leaves people behind). So, time has come, now, for us to make a replacement and we have to prepare ourselves as a party. I hope we are ready for this by-election. This is our stronghold and we have taken this election very seriously and I hope that all the soldiers on the ground, our cadres, are ready for the party. We have to prepare the ground for the Head of State and I am told that the period for campaigning will be short so that is where we are,” said Mwila.

Meanwhile, Mwila said he wanted to see party functionaries involved in the NRC issuance exercise.

“We also want to check on the NRCs. As a party, we have taken it as a party programme. We want to involve all the parry functionaries; we need to get the numbers. Once people are given NRCs, we expect to have a higher number of voters. And the voter registration, we expect it in October so we have 40 days and we will have time to visit one or two areas to check on the progress whether our people are going there. So, that is what we have come for.”

Earlier, Mwila donated various items towards the fight against COVID-19 to St John’s Cathedral in Kasama Archdiocese and Chilonga Mission Hospital in Mpika.