MABABUKA UPND member of parliament Gary Nkombo says the party is ready for the 2021 general election despite being subjected to the PF’s barbaric leadership.

And Nkombo says that the Constitution Amendment Bill Number 10 of 2019 is the PF’s much-needed ventilator to help them cling onto power, hence the ruling party’s insistence to enact it.

In an interview, Nkombo dismissed PF secretary general Davies Mwila’s assertions that the UPND were not ready for next year’s polls, saying that was wishful thinking in an attempt to play on Zambians’ minds.

“Well, look, how can a group of people like ourselves who were cheated of an election, the 2016 general election, by less than half a percentage (point) not be ready for elections? We are very ready for elections and for them to think that we are not ready is wishful thinking and they’re trying to work on the psychology of Zambians. Zambians are fully aware that the PF, together with their Siamese twin, ECZ, and the police, their distant cousins, have been working collaboratively to first, on the part of the police, try and prohibit people from their rights of assembly and movement, everybody knows that. You know that the ECZ are in court, they’re bulldozing their way to get rid of the old register against the wishes of the people. You know very well that PF supervises these two institutions and they are always bowing down to PF. So, the three are in league, the three are against Zambians and so let the day come on 12th of August and then we will demonstrate to the party our preparedness and how ready and eager Zambians are to show PF the door,” Nkombo said.

“So, we are ready, let him (President Edgar Lungu) call the elections, even tomorrow, we are going to show them how people in this country are ready for change.”

Nkombo said Bill 10 was the PF’s much-needed ventilator to help them cling onto power, hence the ruling party’s insistence on its passing into law.

“So, Mr Mwila is working under an illusion that we are not ready, we are very much ready! If I had to say this to you, why would people in Mpika, a handful of hoodlums and rascals, PF thugs, start blocking the road for people who have the right of movement to use the public road, why would they do that in Lavushimanda, that is barbarism! We are working in an environment where the leadership are barbaric, that’s what we are going through. So, that does not indicate that we are not prepared, we are ready. And we also note that Bill 10, as Davies Mwila said, is the ventilator for PF. That is the ventilator that is helping them with oxygen because it has provisions in there that makes one disqualified candidate, such as President Lungu, to run. They want to leave a way for him to run against the current provisions,” said Nkombo.

During ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, Mwila charged that the UPND were crying about the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and the Public Order Act because they were not ready for next year’s polls.