PF Secretary General Davies Mwila says Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu should not transfer the differences he had with the late Micheal Sata to President Edgar Lungu.

And Mwila says the opposition should stop making baseless accusations about the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s online preregistration exercise because it is not mandatory.

Commenting on Archbishop Mpundu’s recent statement that President Lungu’s leadership was worse than that of former British colonial masters because he exhibited intolerance for opposing voices, Mwila said the Catholic priest had jumped on the wrong side of politics by supporting UPND.

“Ba Mpundu, if he differed with the late president Micheal Sata, those differences should not be transferred to President Edgar Lungu. Those differences were there and he should not transfer those differences to President Lungu. President Lungu has delivered on his promises and that is the more reason the by-elections are being won by the PF. If ba Mpundu has become a politician, he should tell us, then we will treat him as a political opponent, but those differences he had with Mr Sata he should not transfer them to President Edgar Lungu,” Mwila said.

“How have we failed? If we have failed, people were going to vote us out even during the by elections but look at the performance of the party. We have been winning Lukashya, they thought they were going to win Mwansabombwe, we won Chilubi and we are going to win the council chairman. They are not ready that is why they are giving these excuses and Bishop Mpundu has jumped on the wrong side of the game because he is supporting a wrong party. How do you support the UPND which is a failed party? He is no longer a clergyman, he is a politician and I can tell you that no one will respect him, because he is now a politician. That is how we will treat him as a political opponent not as a a Bishop and he is a retired Bishop by the way.”

And Mwila said he had not pre-registered to vote online because he preferred to wait until the physical exercise commences on October 28.

“First and foremost, ECZ called for a meeting for all stakeholders that includes all the political parties to discuss this matter and we all agreed. I want to say that online registration is not mandatory. Like me I don’t want to register online, I will do it manually when they start on 28th of October. I don’t want to register online so anyone who is not comfortable should just wait for 28th of October, it ends there. That is the more reason there hasn’t been much publicity in our party, on our side because it is not mandatory. If it was going to be mandatory, yes it is going to be a problem but anyone is free to register, whoever wants can register online, who doesn’t want can’t do it, like me I don’t want to do online,” said Mwila.

“So all the stakeholders agreed, for them to protest, it will not make any sense. All that is needed is for them to approach ECZ and get the views of ECZ and also submit their grievances. The parties that want to protest are not ready, we have told you, they are not ready for elections. They just want to start giving excuses. We have told them during the period of getting NRC we have told them can you go and tell the people as we have been telling our people to go and get NRCs even when it comes to voter registration. They should go in the field and sensitize and inform their people that there is voter registration as we will do that, we are ready and we are geared for 2021.”