Secretariat arrogance cost PF – Chongu
By SIMON MUNTEMBA
THE arrogance by the PF Secretariat and in particular, Secretary-General, Davies Mwila, cost the party victory in the August 12, 2021 general and Presidential elections, a former member, Maxwell Chongu has said.
Mr Chongu has heaped blame on the PF secretariat and particularly on the outgoing Secretary-General Mr Mwila in what he called “tainted adoptions” and for allegedly having allowed thuggery in the party.
He said in an interview that if PF needed to do a genuine introspection and emerge as a strong and formidable opposition party, they should not bury their heads in the sand over the behaviour of the secretariat towards the last general elections.
Mr Chongu insisted that among other things, the answer to the postmortem of the elections loss the PF central Committee was looking for is at the secretariat.
He said Zambians were not happy with caderism and indiscipline among PF members which was tolerated by the secretariat.
“The SG is the answer to the postmortem of the past elections they are looking for. Insults and thuggery was allowed at the secretariat,” he said.
Mr Chongu also accused the secretariat of having adopted unpopular candidates at the expense of those people wanted.
“For example, people in Nkana wanted Binwell Mpundu but the SG stubbornly said yes, we know he is popular, but we will go with Mr Chiteme. Similarly, people wanted Emanuel Jay Banda but the SG handpicked Ms Siliya. Can you win an election like that? And you are looking for a postmortem report,? he said.
He also accused the secretariat of having allowed thuggery within the rank and file of its youths to settle personal scores.
“They organised members from Intercity to insult Mr Chishimba Kambwili right at the secretariat. They also almost killed their own member, Innocent Kalimashi right at the secretariat and no one condemned the cadres, but instead ordered for the arrest of the victim. They also allowed ‘bakanyangu’ to beat up the street vendors that previously voted for them and you expected them to vote for you?” he noted
Mr Chongu also attributed PF loss to selfishness by some ministers who detached themselves from the members who made them to be in those offices.
“There were few ministers that could open their doors to talk to the general membership. Most of them claimed to be too busy. They detached themselves from the ground,” he said.
He said the loss should be a wake-up call to the PF and its leaders, adding that the postmortem should be able to reveal that the secretariat contributed to the humiliating loss.
He said having previously advised the PF leadership on caderism, he felt vindicated after the party’s loss.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Mwila proved futile by press time.
Recently, Mr Mwila announced that the party’s central committee chaired by president Edgar Lungu had an honest and frank post-mortem of the last elections and made clear decisions to rebrand and rebuild the party with a clear intention of bouncing back to power in the next general elections.
Mr Mwila urged all party members and structures not to despair but to remain strong and focused as the party goes through this difficult moment.
“We have learned our lessons and in God we trust, we will bounce back sooner than later,” Mr Mwila stated.
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