UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda says Zambians must be patient because 10 years of “dirty PF” cannot be cleaned in four months.

In an interview, Imenda said UPND should not be judged too harshly because Zambia was like a country which was at war for the past seven years.

“The UPND agenda is a five year programme. UPND is trying to clean the 10 years of dirty PF maneuvers. All the mistakes of the past 10 years cannot be done within four months. If the Zambians will be in a hurry to judge UPND harshly, they will have themselves to blame because they will realise that we were in the right course and they were in a hurry to judge us harshly. Zambia has gone through a terrible state and it is like a country that went through war in the last 10 years. So you cannot cleanse something that went on for 10 bad years within four months,” Imenda said.

“The UPND has only been in government from August. In fact, only after inauguration till today. That is close to about four months. All we are doing is just establish foundation. We have not even started unveiling our economic agenda and blueprint. It is clear that we are starting this month in January. From August last year to December, we were running with the PF budget which was not resonating with our dreams. Right now the issues of youth unemployment will be addressed now. Ask me this question in August, you will find that you will be in a position to tell me that this is what you promised and it has been actualised.”

Imenda said once UPND started unveiling its economic blueprint, Zambians would appreciate.

“So we sit everyday to iron out all the issues. The beneficiaries of fuel subsidies were middle class men and not the man in the village. The money that was for subsidies will now be channeled to betterment of villagers. So when we start unveiling our economic blueprint and people will appreciate. This is just the beginning and people will realise after one or two years what we mean. Again, if Zambians will be in a hurry to change for the sake of change, this is because they believe what they are told,” he said.

“So if the Zambians are in a hurry to change, they will have another 10 years of suffering. So we appreciate the 10 years of suffering and we understand why they are in a hurry for solutions. We know that it is within our powers to respond to their needs as we go on. But if they want to see change in four months, well, as a country we will not be fair to ourselves.”

Imenda also said PF’s desire to bounce back into power was just a mere dream.

“PF will even be worse because what they are saying that they will bounce back is a pipe dream. The same people are dirty, [they] are still defending corruption and tribalism. Unless they realise that we are a nation of 72 tribes with different norms, cultures and traditions, what they are claiming right now is a mere pipe dream. As far as we are concerned, their line of thinking is totally offside. The same thing they have been doing for the last 10 years is what they are still trying to justify now. The things that Zambians refused, that is what they are trying to justify. The Zambians are still very clear and they still see that PF is still a violent party even if they try to rebrand. Zambians are observing and they know that the riches that they have comes from crime. They know how they amassed such kind of money. They have to clean themselves as individuals from the past crimes that they committed before they can think of the future,” said Imenda.