FORMER PF secretary general Davies Mwila says UPND needs to sober up because the honeymoon is over, arguing that the only reason why government will keep referring to mistakes made by PF is that they are disorganised and in a mess.

And Mwila has wondered how the UPND will manage to disburse the K25.7 million Constituency Development Fund annually when PF struggled to disburse K1.6 million.

On Tuesday, UP0ND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said UPND officials would keep referring to the mess which the PF left for as long as the challenges being experienced now can be traced back to the former ruling party.

But in an interview, Mwila said UPND should just start fulfilling their campaign promises.

“I have always said that when you change a government, you change a government for the better. In short things have to be different and better from the way you found them. But if things are getting worse, then there was a mistake. So what we are saying is that they have to sober up because the honeymoon is over. They have to start fulfilling the promises they made because that is a challenge they have. So referring to PF, yes some mistakes were made but they are now responsible and they are disorganised and they are in a mess,” Mwila said.

“They said they will fix the economy, but have they fixed the economy? The answer is no. People are worse off and are suffering more than the way it was in PF because the mealie meal price is up, the fuel price is up and all the essential commodity prices are up. The people will only follow them if all the prices come down because they will see change. You can only follow a political party when things are improving. That is why no one can join them unless things start improving. But as long as the status quo continues, no one will flock to their party.”

Mwila insisted that President Hakainde Hichilema’s trips were not yielding any benefits.

“The Presidency is not different. The Presidency that Edgar Lungu had and the one that HH has, there is no difference. He is also President of the Republic of Zambia. So he condemned that Edgar Lungu was travelling too much. You will recall during the COVID time Edgar Lungu reduced on the trip but for him, he is doing things the opposite way. We thought he would improve and reduce the number of trips but he is just travelling like a tourist. And the way he is traveling it is like the money is coming from his pockets. That is taxpayers’ money. He must change the way he is doing things. Why should you do the things that you were condemning?” he questioned.

“What image is he building? Ask them how much money they have brought from those trips? What are the fruits? There are no benefits. We have told them that as long they abandon China, this country will never develop because it is China that has money. All those countries where the President is going, they are broke. America is broke, UK is broke so who is going to give him the money? Moreover they expected that the money will come from the IMF, but the IMF cannot give them money because of the conditions. The conditions attached to that deal, they cannot be given the money.”

Meanwhile, Mwila wondered how the UPND would manage to disburse the K25.7 million Constituency Development Fund annually when PF struggled to disburse K1.6 million.

“They were talking about the K25 million Constituency Development Fund but it has not even been released. It is not possible. We used to give K1.6 million every year and we used to struggle, what about 25 million? Where are they going to get the money from? That is the problem of electing people who have never been in leadership. They do not have experience, so that is why you bring in people who have been in leadership before because they understand issues. So as far as we are concerned we are in a dilemma as a country, we are in a crisis,” said Mwila.