PATRIOTIC Front secretary general Davies Mwila says the Central Committee will this weekend sit to deliberate on the date of the party’s forthcoming general conference.

Speaking during a press briefing in Lusaka, Monday, Mwila also said the ruling party would also consider suspended Eastern Province youth chairperson Emmanuel “Jay Jay” Banda’s fate.

“I want to say that we have a central committee at the weekend and that is where we are going to set a date for the general conference. That is one of the decisions that will be made on Saturday and then we are going to look at the new manifesto that will be launched before we start the campaigns. The Central Committee will deliberate on that to approve the same document. And also this week, we are going to deliberate on the issue of youth chairman for Eastern Province, that is the disciplinary issue of ‘Jay Jay’ Banda. So, a decision will be made on the weekend,” Mwila said.

He explained that the adoption process to select candidates would commence next month.

“I want to agree with you that as a party, we did put an advert for the three provinces that is North-Western, Western and Southern Province for us to start receiving applications for those who want to stand as members of parliament as well as council chairmen and councilors. The reason is very simple: we have 10 provinces and I think you are aware that we have only three months in between for us to go for elections and by then, we will start filing nominations and we want to lessen pressure on us and we will start adoption of three provinces by mid-March,” said Mwila.

“So, by the end of March, we will be able to announce to the nation the people that will be adopted. I think that by mid-March, we will now put an advert for the remaining seven provinces. And we expect to announce the candidates by mid-April. The response is overwhelming! But I think by next week, they will start making recommendations so we expect the Central Committee to meet by the first week of March to now adopt the candidates for the three provinces.”