PF MEDIA director Sunday Chanda says the ruling party is not disappointed that Bill 10 collapsed because the responsibility of its failure lies with the UPND.

And Chanda says UPND will still fail to win next year’s general election despite having successfully derailed Bill 10.

In an interview, Chanda argued that Bill 10 was not a PF affair, adding that the ruling party’s only disappointment was that the UPND had “killed the Zambian dream.”

“I think Bill 10 was not a PF affair, yes, we supported the Bill and, yes, we had made recommendations and, yes, we agreed and disagreed with some of the resolutions that came out of the NDF and we went into the NDF (National Dialogue Forum) and we looked at this whole process with a spirit of ‘give and take’ because we believe that the contents, therein, would be beneficial to the Zambian people. Unfortunately, our colleagues on the other side, and UPND in particular, chose to play politics with a very serious matter that would have placed this country on a different trajectory,” Chanda said.

“So, in terms of being disappointed, we are disappointed with the UPND because they lost an opportunity to rise above cheap and partisan politics to looking at what is good for the country. And we were very open to say that let the UPND and ourselves come to the table, put the Bill on the table and say, ‘provision by provision, line by line’ to disagree. But that was not so.”

And Chanda said UPND would still fail to win next year’s election despite having successfully campaigned against Bill 10.

“So, we want to say officially to the UPND that they are dream killers. UPND under Mr Hichilema killed the referendum on the Bill of Rights, recommendations which would have restored better rights to the Zambian people. And here we are today talking about the collapse of Bill 10, which would have made a huge difference to the Zambian people. But they shouldn’t lie to themselves that they will win elections because Bill 10 collapsed. Just look at 2016, you campaigned against the referendum on the Bill of Rights, did you win the elections? Even this time around, you won’t go anywhere!” he said.

He said the PF would not give the UPND space to talk about President Lungu’s eligibility as that was a non-issue.

“The other issue that the UPND wants to bring is the no issue of the elilgibility debate. We are not going to give them room and space to entertain a dead matter. The ConCourt pronounced itself on the candidature of President Edgar Lungu. And the only reason why they would want to mount that campaign is because they understand that President Lungu is the strongest political contender for 2021 and by all means, they would want him out. They don’t want to see his name on the ballot paper,” said Chanda.

“Mr (John) Sangwa, S.C., is defending his opinion, he is not defending the Constitution because the same arguments Mr Sangwa is resurrecting today are the same arguments he took before the Constitutional Court and he lost. So, we are saying to our colleagues that as they panic about President Edgar Lungu’s candidature, we are going to focus on taking development to the people of Zambia.”