PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says PF is the most attractive party where things are happening, “abashala kubuta”.

And President Lungu says it is impossible to do everything in 10 years, but the PF is on the right trajectory.

Speaking when he officiated at the Lusaka Province PF intra party elections, Thursday, President Lungu advised parties which had positioned themselves to partner with PF in an event that it failed to reach the 50+1 threshold to just join the ruling party.

“We in the Patriotic Front must be proud, extremely proud, I am proud and I believe we are all proud that 20 years since the inception of our great party PF, we have transformed ourselves into the most attractive party. I know Mourinho (Antonio Mwanza) will say aba basala ni ma nyengwe (the rest are child’s play), its true, mweba shunfwa inchi nyanja ati abashala kubuta (those of you who don’t understand Nyanja, it means the rest are just playing childish games), political party ni PF, ifintu ni PF, things are happening. We are the most attractive party and some people have formed political parties positioning themselves to come and partner with us in the unlikely event that we don’t get 50 plus one, you can imagine, why don’t you just join us. There are people who are positioning themselves Mr SG, that we have formed this party as a standby in case PF fails to get 50+1 we will then we join them and give them the winning vote and say yes twalimyafwa, twafweniko naifwe (we helped you so you also help us), it won’t help, just join us,” he said.

He said PF should be proud of what it has achieved during its 10 year stay in government, urging members not to allow detractors to sway them from their focus.

“We in the PF must be very proud of the great transformation to our great nation Zambia which we have made and all you need to do is look around to see the buildings of schools we have constructed, the bridges, the schools, the universities, hospitals and houses, agriculture, you name it, it’s there but the saying is, nshalendeko ifyo, tupuba tuletalika nshalendeko (I will not say that, fools are arguing, I will not say that). The truth is there is a Bemba saying: forgive me for being Bemba and I didn’t choose to be but I was born amongst them so I claim to be a Bemba. So where we grew up, we were taught that ukupatile tatila busuma bobe, if somebody hates you, they will not say you are beautiful, you are well dressed, you are elegant, they will never, they never give you a positive attribute, the best they can say, if you are slim like me they will say ukonda, ubutali, kamoneni (he’s so skinny, he’s so tall, look at him). That’s what they will say, if you are like my other brothers who are a bit obese, they will say chimoneni, ulufumo, eh chani (just look at his pot belly),” he said.

“So it’s up to you to stand up and say excuse me, I am made in God’s image and I am looking good and carry on. So we in PF should stand up to these detractors and tell them that we have done well, you can see for yourselves. In other words, you Lusaka Province must be proud of these achievements we have made as PF; the new airport, the new roads, expanded roads, the flyover bridges, hospitals, stadium, shopping malls, all have been build during our short stay in power in the last few years. People who have not been here in a long time have confessed that the government has done great things since coming into office…so if those people can’t see, those our detractors you should always tell them that this we have done, that we have done and we are doing more because we are still in charge of the country.”

And President Lungu said it was impossible to do everything in 10 years, but that the party was on the right trajectory.

“Somebody told me, awe Zambia namu wamya nomba mu penteko na apa, efyo chaba (you have done well, but fix this also, that’s how it should be). You can’t say taiweme iyo (it’s not nice), the truth is that our detractors who don’t mean well should not stop us from continuing on our crusade but those who are objective, we should be assisting them by telling them yes we have done this. I’m ticking boxes, you tick and then here we had challenges, going into the future we will correct this. Because nothing can be done in one night, nothing can be done in 10 years, nothing can be done in a generation but we are on the right trajectory. God took six days to create the heaven and the earth, six days, the seventh he rested. We will take longer but we are there,” President Lungu said.

President Lungu wondered why citizens could look elsewhere for an alternative government when they already had PF.

“So ladies and gentlemen, as we approach the August 2021 elections, why should anyone look to anywhere else for leadership other than PF, why? Why should we allow Zambians to look for alternative government when we have already formed government and we have a formidable party which is steering the country to growth, why should we allow people to look elsewhere? You have to stand up on an anthill and tell them we are here, those who are jealous will not acknowledge of course but you have to show them, you have to tell them,” he said.

“Time for us to show off and boast is now. So let me conclude by wishing to take note that elections generally tend to be fierce and competitive and this calls for sobriety or sober minds and maturity as we exercise our democratic right to choose leaders especially at this level of governance. So our ove for each other and mutual respect between those elected and those not so lucky to be elected is what will hold this party together in Lusaka province. The winners or the victors should learn to embrace the vanquished, the vanquished should have the magnanimity to accept the results and move on as one family.”

Meanwhile, President Lungu insisted that citizens needed to work hard to have more money in their pockets.

“When I was speaking in Kasama, I said probably when we told them about more money in your pockets and less taxes, we forgot to tell them that with hard work. Let us emphasised hard work, yes there will more money in your pocket with hard work. If there is no hard work, there will be no money in your pocket. So we in PF should be an example of hard work,” said President Lungu.