PF secretary general Davies Mwila says UPND will continue losing by-elections if they do not fulfill their campaign promises.
Commenting on the PF’s victory in the Kaumbwe Parliamentary by-election in which PF’s Aaron Mwanza polled 6, 633, while UPND candidate Esnart Sakala 3,117 votes, Mwila claimed that UPND lost the by-election because assumed power using lies.
“They have lost, they cannot win because they came into power using lies. And because of that, it will make them lose in 2026. You cannot promise people things that you cannot manage to do. That is the problem, they went to Kaumbwe and told the people of Zambia ‘fertilizer has not come because PF didn’t buy fertilizer’, how? You are in government, you have been in government for a few months. They have failed to buy fertilizer for our people. It is because of the lies so they cannot fulfil these promises,” Mwila said.
“If you cannot fulfil the promises, you don’t expect UPND to win the elections, they will continue losing. They thought they would cheat the people of Kaumbwe and Lusangazi, look at the embarrassment. They tried to intimidate our people but people have already decided. They have to go to the drawing board otherwise if they come to the Copperbelt and Lusaka it will be a very big embarrassment. The people of Copperbelt and Lusaka have really changed, any by-election will be a very big embarrassment for the UPND.”
Mwila said Zambians were still in love with PF and that the UPND government had to work hard to erase the legacy left by his party.
“The people of Zambia love PF because President Edgar Lungu and PF, they have left a legacy, look at the infrastructure that we have done. People have not forgotten, they cannot forget the PF. So UPND has to work extra hard for them to erase that legacy,” he said.
When asked to comment on PF’s loss in Lufubu ward, Mwansabombwe, Mwila said his party lost the seat because UPND used government resources to campaign.
“Yes, we have lost but if you look at what happened, for the first time the President of the Republic of Zambia went to campaign in a ward by-election. It has never happened. So, all the government resources were put in Mwansabombwe. But I can tell you that very shortly they will not win any parliamentary seat in these provinces; Luapula, Muchinga, Northern, Copperbelt, Eastern and Lusaka, I can assure you. We are going to reorganise ourselves. They thought PF was finished,” he said.
“Let them fulfil all the promises, once they fulfil all the promises, the people of Zambia will start voting for them. But as long as the status quo stands, no one will vote for the UPND. So of course we will continue to win because we are reorganizing ourselves and we have started mobilising. We are putting in place all the structures. Moreover, no one has defected to the UPND, so all our structures are intact. Mawere let him go, he is just an embarrassment because people will embarrass him. How do you go to a party when you know that it has no popularity in that area?”
And commenting on Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Bwalya’s remarks that the UPND government had reduced violence, Mwila argued that the UPND had continued to attack and intimidate PF members.
“The UPND pledged to stop violence, violence has still continued because you remember they attacked our vice president Given Lubinda which is very unfortunate. They damaged our vehicles, our members were attacked, you saw how the vehicles were smashed. So, what we are saying is that let them lead by example. They have told the Zambian people that they are not violent, so why are they intimidating our people? Why are they harassing our members? They are now in government and we told the Zambian people that they are more violent than us. Where have you seen that the PF are fighting now? We are not fighting, it is them who are fighting. So, it is laughable,” said Mwila.