FORMER Mbabala UPND member of parliament Ephraim Belemu says the UPND are desperate to win this year’s polls by working with people like renowned lawyer Kelvin Bwalya Fube and MDC leader Felix Mutati, who they were allegedly quarrelling with.

In an interview, Belemu wondered what Zambians would achieve from the formation of the alliance.

“I am sure you have noted that in its desperation, the UPND are trying all forms of arranging with people that they were quarrelling with yesterday like KBF and honorable Mutati. So what does that tell you? Does that tell you that they are ready to form government or they are trying whatever can work? It is like you are cutting every branch while you are drowning to try and survive. Politics is about ideals. If you are going to enter into an alliance, you are entering in an alliance to achieve what? I thought the first thing you must arrive at is the common goal, common ground, common programme of work. UPND launched its manifesto, KBF also had what he was calling a blueprint which is in the form of a book, I am not sure about Mutati. I should think he did the same. So have they agreed on the common ground?” Belemu questioned.

“What are they supposed to achieve for Zambians? From my training you must outline what you want to achieve then you must define what resources you need to achieve what you want. People have different visions and different manifestos so they are going into an election, campaign as an alliance with different manifestos because they have not gone back to the Zambian people to say ‘we have now revised the manifesto’.”

He said he did not find any faults in President Edgar Lungu.

“Ask any member of parliament who served at the point when His Excellency was in parliament, let them tell you the faults they found in him, you will find nothing. So if a person was good yesterday, should we just wake up and say ‘he is a bad person?’ He served us very well in parliament when he was Minister of Home Affairs. Haven’t you wondered why opposition members in the UPND were not allowed to meet his Excellency even in state functions? The reason is because the leaders were fearing that once members of parliament, particularly those who don’t know him, if they interact with him, they would know that there is nothing wrong with the person they are talking about,” he said.

Meanwhile, Belemu said he did not regret joining PF.

“It was an informed decision made after due consideration of all factors. I don’t just make decisions anyhow. It is not like I was blind following, I made a decision consciously, I have no regrets. It was one of the most sound political decisions and judgement I made. I can’t look back. Why should I regret it as though I was forced? I am not a toddler, I am an adult,” said Belemu.