By JOHN KOMBE
A Senior member of the Patriotic Front (PF) has resigned from the party, citing personal reasons.
Former Chongwe Mayor, Geoffrey Chumbwe, said that his resignation was on moral ground as some PF leaders had propagated character assassination.
He said that he had not yet decided on his next political move, but would want to rest from the “pain” that he has endured for a long time.
Mr Chumbwe said that the current crop of leaders in the PF had destroyed the party by promoting hate and character assassination.
The former mayor who was a member of the National Executive Committee in the MMD before resigning to join the PF, said that his resignation was not out of bitterness, but moral reasons.
He said that he could no longer associate himself with a party that had promoted division among its members.
Mr Chumbwe said that the PF lost the just ended elections because of bad leadership at the secretariat.
He urged the party to reorganise the secretariat if it will remain relevant to the current political dispensation.
Mr Chumbwe described the just ended elections as a lesson for politicians who thought that arrogance and hooliganism was the best way of exerting authority.
“I have resigned from the PF and I thank the party for all that they have done for me. I am not bitter that I was side-lined after the demise of the late President Sata, but I can no longer contain the hate that the officials have shown towards me and others who spoke their minds,” he said.
Mr. Chumbwe who at one time held the position of Lusaka PF chairman and Member of the Central Committee, said that his positions were taken away from him because he did not want to be a bootlicker.
He urged the members of the PF to be wary of leaders who wanted to promote lies and hate for their own good.
And former ambassador to Malawi in the PF government, Billiard Munyumbwe has also resigned from the PF.
He said that time had come for him to rest from unending squabbles that had characterised the PF.
Mr Munyumbwe said that the divisions had cost the party and time for reckoning had come with great pain.
He therefore urged politicians to learn to listen from the grassroots as opposed to being cheated by selfish elements who only wanted everything to benefit their ego.
Mr. Munyumbwe who once served as district commissioner of Chongwe in the MMD government has urged the current government to learn a lesson from the current happenings.
He said that if political party leaders grow too big to be advised then the end can be very catastrophic.
“Politicians, especially party presidents, must learn to listen to the voice of reason. Those who criticise must not be viewed as defiant, but they must be listened to,” he said.
