JUSTICE Minister Given Lubinda says 2021 is not a time for experiments, asking Zambians to ensure that President Edgar Lungu wins by 80 per cent.

And Lubinda says government does not want to arrest opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema but that should he be nabbed, it will be because he committed a crime he needs to answer for.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says PF cannot be scared of Hichilema because he is a loser.

Speaking when they featured on Kasama radio, Sunday evening, Lubinda asked Zambians to make sure President Lungu wins by 80 per cent next year.

“Mu 2021 ama Zambians bekapanga mistake ifyaku panga ama experiments tafi kwete inchito. Natukwata kateka Edgar Chagwa Lungu ulefwaya ukutungulula ichalo, ukutwala ubuyantanshi elyo ule tila ati abena Zambia bonse babombele chapamo. Tiyeni tichite campaign ukutila ati mu 2021 Edgar Chagwa Lungu akapite nakabili. Elyo mu 2021, tatulefwaya Edgar Chagwa Lungu akapite na one per cent, aliwinine na 51 percent, uno mwaka tulefwaya ati Edgar Chagwa Lungu akawine na 70 per cent nangula 80 per cent (In 2021, Zambians should not make a mistake of experimenting when choosing a leader. We have President Lungu who wants to lead and will bring more development and ensure that Zambian work together. Let us campaign and ensure that we re-elect him. We don’t want him to win the election with a margin of one percent, he won with 51 percent in the last elections but let us ensure that he wins by 70 or 80 percent of votes),” Lubinda said.

And Lubinda said any person who commits a crime must be ready to answer for it at any given point when he was asked by caller how government intended to deal with the privatization matter.

“Umalandu tabubola nangu umalandu wapangile 50 years ago, nga abantu baipusha, kuya ku Court. Pano panshita ilyashi iyi taili ku buteko iyo. Ili lyashi lili pali abantu abale lumbulana amashina. Ifwe tatwaliko mukwayi elo balechita privatize. Abaliko niba MMD naba leshitisha ifipe fyabuteko. Nomba abali ba Minister ba finance mu MMD ebayamba ilyashi. Bale eba ifwe aba buteko ukutila ati palya elyo tamwaliko, ifya lechitika nifi nefi baletuisula amano. Balekeni abene balande fwe babuteko tulekutika ikesa fika inshita naifwe ukutila ati bane namufwa ilyi lyashi ifilechitika? Naifwe tulefwailikisha ikesa fika inshita tukeikala mu cabinet ukusumina ukutila ifyo talwachita nifi nefi (If you commit a crime, a case will never be erased no matter how long it takes. If people ask questions, you will have to answer them in the courts of law. This matter is between two people who were there during the privatization period, government is not involved. The former Minister of Finance (Edith Nawakwi) is the one who has brought up this matter. She is telling at that before you came into power this is what occurred. She is opening our minds. Let the two deliberate the issues. Time will come for Cabinet to sit and discuss the way forward on the matter),” Lubinda said.

“Nali mona muka newspaper kamo balilemba ati ‘balefwaya ukukaka Hakainde’. Ninshi twala mukakila Hakainde? Akaikaka umwine. Uwapanga umalandu afwile aishiba ukutila one day, alinokulubulula ati apangile shani umulandu. Nangu teifwe ba PF, ichalo chikema fye ukutila ati bane impiya mwasenda mukashibwesha lilali? (One of the tabloids said we wanted to arrest Hakainde, why should we arrest him? He will cause his own arrest. When you commit a crime, know that one day you will be answerable. It is not just us the PF government, the people of Zambia will rise and ask him when he would reimburse the money he acquired).”

Lubinda also said people should support Bill 10 so that big constituencies can be demarcated.

“Sumineni ukutila tuchinje constitution ukupitila mu Bill 10. Ukutila ati ama constituencies like Lukashya, Shiwang’andu, Malole tuya putule ukutila ati tukwate ama MPs babili olo batatu. Nomba aba balekana ati tatulefwaya Bill 10, echo balefwaya ninshi? (Allow us to amend the constitution through Bill 10 so that big constituencies like Lukashya, Shiwang’andu and Malole are demarcated and we can have at least two or three members of parliament in these big constituencies. The people who are opposing the bill, what exactly do they want)?” Lubinda asked.

“We used to walk out of Parliament but that was because we did not agree with what the speaker said. I was at the forefront of leading people to walk out. But the UPND walk out of Parliament when I bring the Bill 10 in Parliament I once asked them why they behaved like cows. So Nga twaisula Parliament pa 11, Bill 10 ili no kwisa (so when parliament resumes it will be tabled).”

He said the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) could not proceed to register inmates as voters until Bill 10 is passed.

“Abaku Constitutional Court balandile ati iyo ama inmates bafwile ba vota. Nomba ukutila bachite vote, tufwile twapanga amafunde ukutila twapela insambu ukutila ba Electoral Commission of Zambia baye muma correctional facilities bayelembesha ama inmates ukutila babe pa voter’s roll. Nomba ngatatupangile ifunde mwishibe ati ba ECZ teti baye muma correctional facilities. Abalelenga ukutila twipanga ifunde iyo ni abalekana Bill 10. Emulandu tukwete (The Constitutional Court ruled that inmates are supposed to vote but for them to be able to vote, we need a law to enable ECZ to go into correctional facilities to have them registered. If the law is not amended, the ECZ cannot have the mandate to do that. The challenge that we are having is the people against Bill 10, they are the ones causing this delay),” said Lubinda.

“We want to change the prisons act to correctional facilities act so that inmates’ rights are improved. We are asking them what is wrong with Bill 10, they are saying ‘nothing is wrong, we just don’t want it.’ So iyo method iyaku chita campaign mu ma correctional facilities tukesaloleshapo ngatwakwata ukuchinja amafunde aya ku chita register ama inmates (so when it comes to campaigning in correctional facilities, we will look intO it when we change the law).”

Meanwhile, Kampyongo wondered why the ruling party would be scared of Hichilema when he had he had lost countless times.

“When I was on my way back from meeting residents of Chisanga. I received a query from Voice of America asking if we wanted to arrest HH so that he shouldn’t contest the general elections. Why are they rushing to international communities? We also have people who know us we can explain ourselves. We don’t want to rush into this privatization matter because it is big and has affected a lot of people, selling state owned enterprises is a big matter. That is why we are saying we are finding ways to ensure that the truth comes to light. Time will come for us to talk about it. My ministry arrests people and we take them to court and if they are found wanting they are brought back to us and put in correctional facilities. Don’t rush to international media we can’t be scared. Is thIs the first time HH is losing elections now [that] we should be scared of him?” Kampyongo asked.

He said UPND MPs secretly told Lubinda that they supported Bill 10 but that they were publicly against it because Hichilema told them so.

“The problem we have is that the opposition leader has never been in Parliament to see how the procedures of the House work including councilor duties, a blind person can’t lead people. It was easier when GBM was there because he would advise him. That’s why we are saying choose leaders who will be able to debate in Parliament instead of walking out of Parliament when they are using tax payer’s money. Our colleagues MPs from the opposition secretly come to the Justice Minister saying we want this bill because our constituencies are big. But we tell them man up and represent the people instead of being against the bill but they say their leader is difficult to deal with,” said Kampyongo.