We won’t shut up, PF councillors tell Mwila  

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:18:28 +0000

DAVIES Mwila cannot threaten anyone over our salaries because we are elected by Zambians and swore to uphold the Constitution while the same people who gave us the mandate rejected him, Patriotic Front councillors in Northern Province have charged.

Speaking on behalf of his counterparts, Mfinshe ward councillor in Malole constituency Anthony Mubanga maintained that the issue of councillors’ salaries was a national and constitutional issue and not a party issue.

He said it was wrong for Mr. Mwila, who is the ruling Patriotic Front secretary general, to threaten PF councillors when councillors across the country were demanding for the same despite their political affiliations.

Mr Mubanga said councillors had sworn to uphold the Constitution and would not waver in their demands for salaries. He also challenged Mr. Mwila to back his remarks with the law, saying there was no such provisions in the Constitution.

 “He [Mr. Mwila] was just making threats using angry language without

quoting a single line from the Constitution, yet he was part of the constitution-making process. Is he telling us that he did not understand what he was voting for?

‘‘We want to let him know that we were voted into office and only the people of Zambia can remove us from our positions while he was just appointed and can be removed from that position any day by the appointing authority.

“There is no way a person who was part of Cabinet when the law was being made can fail to articulate matters from an informed position and claim that only MPs and council chairpersons are entitled to salaries and we challenge him to quote which part of the law states so,” Mr Mubanga said.

Mr. Mubanga vowed that councillors in Northern Province would never apologise to provincial chairperson Felix Mfula for appearing on Radio Mano to discuss the issue of their salaries and have dared Mr. Mfula to fire them if he had powers to do so.

Last week, Mr. Mfula gave a seven-day ultimatum to all the PF councillors who went to Radio Mano to express their grievances over the issue of salaries. That ultimatum expires today, but Mr. Mubanga said no councillor would apologise because there was nothing wrong that they had done.

Mr. Mubanga accused Mr. Mfula of destroying the party in the province and challenged him to fire all councillors in the province and see what would remain of PF.

“We have the people while he does not command any following. He should understand that in politics, councillors are an important asset because we act as a bridge between the people and Government. We are always there to listen to the problems of the people and find solutions even when they are saying we should not be given salaries,” he said.

“We want to make it clear that we will never apologise to anyone for this just cause we are championing, and we dare Mr. Mfula to fire all of us in the province if he has power so that he can see what will remain of the party,” Mr Mubanga said.