KANCHIBIYA PF member of parliament Sunday Chanda says the UPND government is in defence mode and believes it cannot be criticised.

In an interview, Chanda said it was unfortunate that citizens who were raising critical questions were treated to insults.

“I think what is very clear is that the UPND are in defence mode. Clearly, they are struggling with understanding that they are now a party in power and they are no longer an opposition political party. When citizens of this country raise critical questions, the citizens are treated to insults and all forms of abuse. This is what is happening and clearly, our colleagues are still holding on to the opposition mentality where they feel and they believe that they are beyond reproach, where they believe they cannot be criticised and the President cannot be criticised. That is the mentality in the UPND,” he said.

And Chanda said UPND would have a difficult time defending their failure to implement their campaign promises.

“The UPND made a lot of promises, a number of these promises are turning out to be fake promises. The UPND is going to have a huge task of defending and justifying its own flip-flopping. The issues we are talking about and I think that is the reason why my brother Cornelius Mweetwa is throwing himself into the frail when he is not government chief spokesperson because issues that are coming up are political in nature and he was there when these promises were being made. It will be unfair again and I say that with a pitch of malice to expect that the new Minister of Information will be able to take on the heat and justify why they are busy deleting tweets and Facebook posts containing key promises to the Zambian people,” Chanda said.

“I think we would urge our colleagues that there is no honeymoon with public service, the earlier they realise that they are in government the better. In the next three months, we will be kissing goodbye to 2021 and we will be counting four more years for the UPND administration. They can be guaranteed that politics are very dynamic, the circumstances of August 12th 2021 won’t be the circumstances of August 2026. Four years is a long time, that is more the reason their focus must be getting the job done.”

Chanda said UPND should stop pointing fingers at what the PF did or failed to do and instead focus on implementing their campaign promises.

“Clearly they are spending time and they are spending most of their time pointing fingers at what did the PF do and what didn’t the PF do. If the PF has failed to do certain things maybe that is the reason why the people of Zambia decided to vote them out of office. So, it doesn’t do the UPND any good to preach what the PF did and did not do. They have their role and their time in office and time is ticking. The Zambians are watching and they can be guaranteed Zambians might be peaceful, but Zambians are not docile and they are watching. So, we are worried by the miscommunication in the UPND, we think that the Zambian people deserve better,” said Chanda.