East PF warns party renegades

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:35:04 +0000

THE Patriotic Front in Eastern Province has come to the defence of its provincial chairman Andrew Lubusha and has branded a faction demonising him a bunch of hired cohorts whose aim is to undermine the leadership of the governing party at all levels.

All PF district chairmen in Eastern Province have charged that a clique of party renegades not in any of the party structures had been hired to cause confusion in the governing party in a scheme to have Mr Lubusha removed from his position.

The PF district chairmen have warned that they would not tolerate any form of indiscipline from some of its members because the ruling party had remained united on the principles of loyalty, discipline and respect for leadership.

The Eastern Province PF district chairmen that have come to the defence of Mr Lubusha included Moses Phiri of Katete, Standford Mwanza of Petauke, Emmanuel Mulenga in Lundazi, Regina Phiri in Chadiza and Peter Msimuko of Chipata.

Others are Michael Tembo of Vubwi, Same Mvula of Sinda, Mabvuto Mwanza of Nyimba and Mambwe’s district chairman Imange Muzidya Phiri.

The nine PF district chairmen said Mr Lubusha was a down-to-earth, humble and focused leader who had made the ruling party more attractive in the region and should, therefore, be commended and not condemned for his work.

The nine PF district chairman in Eastern Province said the ruling party had become stable under the leadership of Mr Lubusha and calls for early elections meant to oust him (Lubusha) should be ignored.

They said the PF in Eastern Province had achieved a lot under Mr Lubusha apart from delivering all but 4 Members of Parliament in the last general elections.

They said under Mr Lubusha, the PF in the region had equally managed to deliver a Mayor in Chipata and eight council chairmen and that the general performance of the party in the last general elections stood at almost 80 percent for President Edgar Lungu.

“If you talk about the ‘Sonta’ slogan in Eastern Province, Mr Lubusha has results to point at. Due to the above achievements and attributes, we condemn and denounce in the strongest terms people who are trying to distabilise the PF in Eastern Province by fighting Mr Lubusha. We are disappointed with members who besieged the secretariat calling for early provincial elections in the province. We know those demanding for early elections were hired thugs with no interest of the party. As district chairmen in the province, we wish to state that we are solidly behind Mr Lubusha and his team,” the nine PF district chairmen said in a joint statement.

The leaders of the nine districts in Eastern Province have warned of stern action against some party leaders clandestinely working or sponsoring party members to rise against its leadership.

The leadership in the province have also commended PF secretary general Davis Mwila for having maturely handled the matter and had shamed perpetrators of what they termed evil schemes to oust Mr Lubusha.