Tue, 16 Jan 2018 10:38:40 +0000
By CHARLES MUSONDA in Lundazi
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) members must work hard for them to be recognised and identified for positions in government, senior party member Boniface Botha has said.
Featuring on Chikaya community radio station’s good governance programme in Lundazi, Mr. Botha said there was nothing wrong with President Lungu’s appointment of former ministers in the MMD administration to his government.
“Defections are not new because before the MMD formed government in 1991, some UNIP members crossed over to the MMD.
“After the PF formed government, some MMD members defected to the PF. Some of them came with proper motives and President Lungu was not wrong to appoint them as ministers as long as they are capable of working,” Mr. Botha said.
He added: “Politics is about numbers and we need numbers to remain in government.
“PF and MMD are one and the MMD should just call themselves as PF. Let’s carry one tag as PF. The MMD is no more because its president is serving under President Lungu who is also PF president.”
On the same programme, PF Eastern provincial secretary Joseph Kolosa said genuine PF members were patient despite many of them not yet rewarded with government positions or empowered in other ways.
“Many of them have not yet been motivated but they have held onto the PF because they understand our pro- poor policies.
“My advice to PF members is that they should not make a mistake of joining disgruntled politicians who have come up with new political parties because they will not take them anywhere,” Mr. Kolosa said.
Mr Kolosa said the PF had only been office for six years and had a bigger advantage of winning the 2021 elections under President Lungu.
Meanwhile, Mr. Botha said President Lungu had good intentions of fighting the cholera outbreak and it was unfortunate that some people had politicised measures put in place to fight the epidemic.
He said President Lungu took a bold decision to engage the military because some of his predecessors could not do so for fear of losing popularity.
