PF chairperson for elections Remember Mutale says the former ruling party needs to work hard to show people why they should start voting for them again.

Commenting on his appointment as party chairperson for elections, Mutale said the party needed to create a certain perception so that people could start seeing PF from a new light.

“Victory is not about the chairperson of elections, victory is about one political perception, how strategic you are in terms of your structures and how well you are bonding with the electorate. That is the determinant of victory and usually in Zambia there is always this perception of the ruling party. So we need to work hard as PF in order to show why people should start voting for us again. Remember we are in a process of rebranding, and also trying to ensure that we cleanse ourselves from the issues that we are labeled for. So that will take a little bit of time and like I mentioned it is about perception. So we need to create some perception so that people can start seeing a new PF, with a new understanding of things,” he said.

Mutale said the general conference which was scheduled for June would change the dynamics and direction of the party.

“The general conference will change the dynamics and the direction of the party because you expect us to have a president. The president, I am sure he will also make his own parameters of doing things but much more important is to stick to our party manifesto which talks from 2021 to 2026,” he said.

Meanwhile, when asked how the UPND government had performed in the last six months, Mutale said it was too early to judge their performance.

“It is very early to determine that, politics give it time. For now, it is too early to judge them because they are still putting their house in order. They are coming from the opposition, they are trying to learn governance, so we need to give them time. People also must be given time to look at things. But in politics, you don’t give [much] time because when people are campaigning, in that time when they were in opposition campaigning, they are getting ready to get into power. So meaning that they knew whatever they were doing and they knew to say that leadership is this. If you want to build a house, you know what it takes to build a house,” said Mutale.

“So, if you start making mistakes, you should not blame anyone, you should blame yourselves because you need to prepare yourselves in order for you to build a good house. For me the mistakes that we are seeing from our colleagues, the failure in terms of economy and whatever, we cannot blame anyone, the blame must go directly on them. The people of Zambia will not excuse them just like how the law is, there is no ignorance in politics, leadership there is no ignorance. So whatever the mistakes they are making to me they are pure mistakes and Zambians must hold them to account.”