KABWATA PF aspiring candidates Daniel Yenga and Clement Tembo have apologised for causing confusion within the ruling party arising from their premature campaigns.

And the duo has resolved to prioritise and endorse President Edgar Lungu’s third successive election bid.

Speaking during a press briefing in Lusaka, Monday, Tembo said the first priority was to ensure President Lungu emerged victorious in the upcoming August 12 general election and set aside his own political ambitions of ousting Kabwata PF member of parliament Given Lubinda.

“My brother, Daniel Yenga, it is the first time we are meeting today. I just want to reassure you that we are in one party and we need to ensure that we put His Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu infront. Whatever it is that we want to do, we have one candidate at the moment and that is His Excellency, the President. We all have aspirations, it should not take blood for us to assume office. In all honesty, I think there is team PF and team ECL. Those that support me because obviously you know where I am coming from and you understand my background, support me on principle, present to the people the truth. My appeal is that let the people of Kabwata judge, let our security team be very cautious and don’t be biased,” Tembo said to party members.

“We are all Zambians at the end of the day. I want to reassure you, constituency chairman and my brother Daniel Yenga that going forward, it should be His Excellency, the President. I am also assuring you that we are going to pull down the branding on our vehicles and I hope my brother should do the same. That no vehicles are going to be branded with our faces or our names, let everything be branded ‘His Excellency, the President,’ until the adoption process. Let the best person be chosen. You followers should not fight because at the end of the day, the energy you spend in fighting, we can spend those energies in building our families. Now is to build the party so that His Excellency can return to office!”

And Yenga apologised to Lubinda if they had wronged him during their premature campaigns to grab his parliamentary position.

“I would like to thank President Lungu for having allowed us to go into the constituencies to sell ourselves. Your Excellency, we thank you. We are making this promise personally as Daniel Yenga that we shall adhere to the guidelines that your Excellency, the party executive has put forth. Number one, your Excellency, you have emphasised the need to respect the incumbent, the need not to form parallel structures in the constituencies where we are going. I am also making a promise that we shall be peace preachers where we are going in these wards, we will tell our supporters not to fight, not to insult or even insult the incumbent. Honorable Given Lubinda, if we have wronged you in any way, we say, ‘sorry.’ Our media team, let us refrain from using abusive language, we only have one party PF,” said Yenga.

“We don’t have where to go, we don’t want to go back to opposition, we know how painful it is to belong to the opposition. Your Excellency, the party executive, we are making this promise that where we will be going, the party mobilisation will be the first thing on our lips. What we want from Kabwata constituency is to deliver 100 per cent votes for His Excellency! This is why we have put up a vision of forming 4,000 branches in Kabwata constituency and that we shall achieve to make sure that His Excellency gets 100 per cent votes. Chairman and my good friend Clement Tembo, we belong to this party called PF; I will be very glad to sit down and have coffee together. Let us not be divided by politics. We should not shed blood, God is the one that gives leadership. If you will be chosen, I will support you. In the event that I am not chosen, I shall never stand as an independent. I shall never be used by the opposition. My blood is PF! Come August, we want to win. And let us respect the incumbent. We will remove the branding on our car.”