PF Secretary General Davies Mwila has charged that UPND members of parliament Aubrey Kapalasa, Rasfold Bulaya and Stanely Kakubo are sellouts who should not be trusted by their leader Hakainde Hichilema as they have been double dealing with the ruling party.

But Kakubo says it’s cowardice for Mwila to accuse him of being a sellout when the two have never met, adding that he has no time for PF money.

Kapalasa on the other hand, says Mwila is a “failure” and that his statements should not be taken seriously.

In an interview, Mwila said PF would have an easy win on August 12 because UPND has lost numbers.

He said Hichilema must not trust Katuba UPND member of parliament Aubrey Kapalasa, Mpongwe UPND lawmaker Rasfold Bulaya and Kapiri Mposhi member of parliament Stanely Kakubo, charging that the trio were sellouts.

“Kapalasa is a crook and UPND must be careful of the people that they are adopting. That one is a sellout, he must explain how he got that vehicle. As far as I am concerned as Secretary General, that guy used to be PF. He used to come here at the secretariat. Yes we had a problem with the sewer and he had a problem with land issues. He wanted us to help him to resolve the issue of land with the Labour Commissioner. He wanted us to use the short cuts and we said ‘no’. That is how he ran away and joined the UPND. It’s not that he cleaned our toilets and whatever, he wanted to help us so that we could help him. Us, as the secretariat we said no!” he exclaimed.

“So, he should just explain if he has sold the UPND, it is up to him. He is a sellout and Hakainde Hichilema should not trust Kapalasa, he is a sellout. And we will mention more who have been coming to us, they are sellouts! They want to be eating with both hands, they come to us, they go to Hichilema. We will mention them and one of them is Kapalasa, because he is the one who was coming here. They have been coming to us, one of them is Mpongwe MP, the other one is Kapiri MP. Those have been coming to us, they are sellouts! Those are sellouts including Kapalasa, HH should not trust those, they are sellouts!”

And Mwila said the upcoming elections would be an easy win for PF because the UPND had lost its popularity.

“First and foremost, politics is about numbers and as, such that is the true reason we are accommodating everyone that is coming to the party. Suffice to say, UPND has lost its popularity, that is the more reason people are resigning from UPND to join the PF, because they have seen that it is only PF that has the heart of the people. More big fish are coming to PF, just wait by the end of next week because Hakainde Hichilema has failed to lead the party. So we are going to have it easy come August 12. We have told the Zambian people that we are coming back to power, because of what we have done to the Zambian people in terms of development. Of course, it is going to be an easy win for the PF, we are going to have more than 60 percent this time. Overall we are going to get over 60 percent,” Mwila said.

Asked why the party had decided to announce adopted candidates for Western Province when it had earlier stated that it would only announce the list of adopted candidates on May 17, Mwila said the party decided to announce candidates for Western Province early to allow them prepare themselves adequately.

“Yes, we have announced for Western Province but the remaining provinces will not be announced. Because those adoptions will be done the second week of May. That is; Luapula, Muchinga, Northern, Eastern, Lusaka and Copperbelt. We will do those adoptions the second week of May. The other three; North-Western, Southern and Central Provinces [we] will do them in the first week of May. Why have we gone for Western Province? We want our people to be on the ground as quickly as possible, that is why we announced those names. So we have told our people to go on the ground and start preparing themselves,” Mwila said.

But Kakubo and Kapalasa have denied the allegations made by Mwila in separate interviews.

Kakubo said it was cowardice for Mwila to accuse him of being a sellout when the two had never met or talked.

He added that he had no time for PF.

“I have never in my life ever met the PF secretary general. I have never even set my eyes on him. I have never even had a telephone conversation with him. I have never had his phone number, if he has my number, he has never called me. There are principled politicians in our country and we are very few of us. We have no time for PF money. Our political journey stems from the fact that we are looking for economic liberation for our people. Other than that, we don’t deserve to be in this position. He should not draw us into discussions which are not necessary. This is a man who has never ever spoken a word to me before, and to hear now that he has gone to the media to talk about myself is an act of cowardice. I am not surprised, such is the hallmark of their party,” Kakubo said.

“The focus of this country should be on how we will get our people out of the suffering they are in. PF have really messed up this country and it is going to get worse, this is just the beginning. It is going to be very hard to get our families out of these challenges. And for the CEO of a party that is ruling us to start trivialising the many issues in this country is really shameful. It just shows that they are not the people that have competency to get us out of our challenges. The PF only approaches those who look like they are interested, I have no time for PF. They have never approached me, they should not even waste their time approaching me.”

Meanwhile, Kapalasa said the statements made by Mwila should not be taken seriously as he was a “failure”.

“Such statements should not be taken seriously, that is why he is a failure. You should not take them seriously. I don’t know what he is talking about, he is crazy! He failed at his constituency, that’s why he is a failure. Don’t worry about him. He is actually in charge of Luapula United. In fact he should be grateful and thankful that I helped them,” he said.

Efforts to get to Bulaya proved futile as his phone was unreachable by press time.

Earlier this week, Kapalasa told News Diggers! in an interview that he was given a vehicle by the Patriotic Front as a token of appreciation after he cleaned and fixed the toilets at the PF secretariat in Lusaka.

He also accused Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji of using the Police to grab the said vehicle and to intimidate, and victimise him after he refused to support Bill 10.