SOCIALIST Party 2021 presidential candidate Dr Fred M’membe says voting back PF is the worst decision Zambians can ever make.

And Dr M’membe has wondered how many individuals President Edgar Lungu wants to destroy, in reference to the Head of State’s threats that he will arrest UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.

Speaking when he featured on Hot Fm’s ‘Hot Seat’ programme, Tuesday, Dr M’membe said the PF government had no capacity to handle the debt crisis.

“We have a challenge when it comes to settling debt and whoever is coming into government should know that this is the state of affairs they are going to find. If you put the PF back to deal with this debt, can they deal with it? No! That will be the worst decision Zambian will make to put back the PF into government. They have no capacity to deal with this debt they have contracted and they are bankrupt on how to deal with it. Look at how they are spending even on these elections. For a government that has contracted so much debt, look at their extravagance of their elections,” he said.

“Look at how Mr Lungu has spent on his elections and you might think he is leading a country that is so rich. Where is he getting all this money, it is your money. Mr Lungu didn’t get into this government with money, PF didn’t get into this government with money, we know where PF is coming from. PF was a poor party, where have they gotten all this money from all of a sudden? This is your money they have taken with no intention to return it.”

Dr M’membe said civil servants should expect their salary arrears to continue mounting if PF wins Thursday’s general elections.

Dr M’membe said the Bank of Zambia had played some tricks to manage the Kwacha and inflation in order to “smear butter” on citizens’ faces.

“Soon, you will see salary arrears rising and even now they are struggling to pay. If you go to UNZA, there are delays in payment of salaries and every month they are fighting with their people everywhere and such cases are going to increase. You vote in power back the PF government, expect salary arrears for those working in the civil service or government supported institutions. They will not be able to pay your salaries, they will not be able to increase them,” Dr M’membe said.

“Inflation will skyrocket and yes they are trying to control it, we have a good team at the Bank of Zambia who have tried to control the inflation and the Kwacha but there is a limit to what their tricks can do as reality will soon dawn. Some of these measures they are taking don’t be deceived, they are just there to deceive you by smearing butter on your faces so that you don’t vote them out of power. Immediately they get back into power then you will see the reality of what they have done. This is another Armageddon, we are in trouble, we are in serious trouble. Voting for their Siamese twin also is just the same as voting for PF.”

And M’membe wondered how many individuals President Lungu wanted to destroy.

“You don’t run the country by threats. Mr Lungu has succeeded in many things but in all those things his success is destruction. Destruction of the economy, destruction of the debt capacity of the country, destruction of individuals. How many more individuals does he want to destroy, how many more individuals does he want to humiliate, how many more individuals does he want to bring on their knees? There is no need to threaten anybody. So is Mr Lungu the police? Is Mr Lungu the judge? Is he the prosecutor who is going to fix someone who privatised the mines?” he asked.

“Are there no independent law enforcement agencies, is there no Anti Corruption Commission, no DEC operating independent of him, DPP operating independent of him? Is he all these institutions in one? Is it his duty to be ACC, DEC, police, the judge, or the prosecutor? There is no need to threaten anybody. Yes people enriched themselves, we know who plundered public resources but there is no need to threaten one individual you are competing with at an election time. He has been in office for seven years, why didn’t he take any action? It does not make sense and is not fair to threaten a competitor during an election.”

Meanwhile the opposition leader questioned why the PF government invited foreign election observers when it kept on attacking them whenever they commented on election issues.

“How did these foreign observers come here, did they impose themselves? The answer is no. They are guests of this government, they are Mr Lungu’s guests, Mr Lungu invited them. The PF is still running the government up to the day they hand over power, they are still running the government. They invited these people to come and observe, the EU did not come on its own. They are guests of the Republic of Zambia. Why did they invite them, why do you invite people you don’t want?” asked M’membe.

“What is the problem? If they are not happy with them, why not just tell them to go back? Why can’t they tell them to go back if they serve no purpose? Let the truth be told. They invited these people and these people are all over the country trying to observe what is going on. I don’t think they have come to fight with the PF government of Mr Lungu, they have come to help the run a credible election, that’s all. Do they want them to come and promote the chance of the PF, no! They have come here as independent observers. Wrong or right in their observation, they are our guests and we invited them. Let’s treat them with fairness, even when we disagree with them, let’s treat them with respect because we invited these people.”