UPND secretary general Batuke Imenda says former president Edgar Lungu is mocking Zambians by apologising for the misdeeds of his administration.

And Imenda says his office did not receive an invitation to late president Micheal Sata’s memorial service.

Commenting on Lungu’s apology, Imenda said Zambians went through a lot of trauma under PF.

“Let him know that the PF he is talking about will never, ever rise. The PF has gone to the grave, never to rise again. PF bouncing back, that is a pipe dream. People went through a lot of trauma. Even for him to think of that then it shows that even his apology is not accepted. There were a lot of crimes that were committed during his time for which he is not coming out clean and telling the nation why those crimes were committed. He does not know that currently as UPND, we are under pressure from the nation to punish people who were serving in his government,” he said.

“People are demanding that we should fire them and have them arrested. But the mere fact that President Hakainde Hichilema is being very clear, he wants civility, to handle these issues in an amicable manner. He is getting more pressure just to handle the matter in the manner which is considered better by not contradicting each other like the PF were doing to the rest of the Zambians.”

He added that people were still upset with Lungu and his administration.

“So, what I want to tell Mr Lungu is that let him be very careful with the words that he is using. The Zambian people are still upset with him. They are still upset with people who were serving in government. The Zambian people want people who were in his government to be arrested. Those people who are still holding on the money should be in prison. I can tell you that a majority of the people who were serving in PF are on the wrong side of the prison gates, they are supposed to be inside. They must know that talking about bouncing back is an insult to the Zambian people. The Zambian people want these people sorted out. The Zambian want to know who did the gassing,” Imenda said.

“You cannot just wake up and say sorry and then the second day you are back in government. Someone must account for all those crimes that we all know happened. When that is done, people now can start dreaming of bouncing back. Tell Mr Lungu that the eagle is in the sky. We are observing, we are following systemically. Let him see at the end of it all that we stand for the interest of the Zambian people. He should stop mocking the Zambians, he knows what he did himself.”

Imenda described Lungu’s apology as a mockery of Zambians.

“You don’t apologize and at the same time come out boasting. First of all, what is he apologizing for? Let him tell the Zambian people what he is apologizing for, that must be made very clear. Let him tell the Zambian people that ‘I am sorry I did the following, my people did the following’. After that the Zambians will consider whether or not they will accept his apology. You don’t give a blanket apology,” he said.

“The people want to know who killed Lawrence Banda. Who killed Mapenzi? Who killed all those people? Someone must answer for those crimes before he can apologize. Hundreds of people died during the gassing, let him tell the people, who burnt the markets? After he has done so let him tender his apology. That is when the Zambian people can forgive him. Right now he is mocking the Zambians.”

When asked why the UPND did not attend late president Micheal Sata’s memorial service, Imenda said his office did not receive an invitation.

“I don’t even know that there was something like that. We did not receive anything. My office did not receive an invitation,” said Imenda.