VICE-PRESIDENT elect Mutale Nalumago says the UPND government will not let Zambians down by taking the direction which PF took in terms of governance.
In an interview, Saturday, Nalumango welcomed the advice which her party received from various stakeholders.
“We appreciate all those giving us advice once we form government because that is the advice we need. There are many things that have gone wrong that we need to correct. When a vice goes on for a long time, it becomes a norm in society and therefore we have a lot to do to ensure that normalcy is brought back. Therefore I want to agree with them that we should never go the PF way in so many ways. PF has not even been there for 20 years but they are going out embarrassingly I’m sure from the results as you see them. They were banking on wrong things and they may still be banking on wrong things, of course in situations like this there are many rumors,” she said.
“I agree with them, we should never go the PF way. If we do that, we will have not only let the Zambians down but ourselves within because we have a passion to serve Zambians, we have a passion to see things going right. So to go the PF way in terms of corruption, in terms of violence and in terms of governance will be unfortunate. We are going to proceed in a different way and I believe it because it is in our values [that] we have put down.”
Nalumango said the UPND Alliance was not going to take Zambians for granted once it formed government.
“Parliament will provide checks and balances to the government of UPND and suffice itself to say no to the vices that we have seen during this period. Whether you are UPND or anyone, please help us to govern and to govern properly. Zambians are not stupid, Zambians are not dull be it in the village, the educated in terms of school, they know exactly what they want from their government and we have learnt not to take people for granted,” she said
And Nalumango urged the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to act professionally as it announced election results so as to dispel rumours that the PF wanted to temper with the results.
She further urged the commission to quickly announce the verified results as delays create anxiety in people’s minds
“I want to thank Zambians generally because they have decided on what they want Zambia to be like and who should lead Zambia. So we are grateful as a party and on behalf of president Hakainde Hichilema. Whether they like it or not he is carrying the day and UPND is carrying the day. On the other hand, the ECZ doesn’t really show that they are in full control in terms of ensuring that their officials at polling stations work quickly and that is the reason for the delay. It simply creates anxiety in people’s minds, it creates suspicion and therefore brings a lot of insecurity. It would be good that these people transmit the results,” said Nalumango.
“One wonders why it has taken so long. I believe they need to quickly announce this so that we are over it and see as a nation what ought to be done. We urge the ECZ to quickly announce the verified results and all they have to do is to declare because all the results look declared. They should never consider themselves as players and therefore they should never see themselves in the eyes of one stakeholder because that is the danger and we don’t want that. ECZ must act professionally to dispel all the rumors of the alleged continued wicked behavior of PF.”