PF’s greatest enemy is the economy – Mutati’s MMD
MMD national secretary for the Felix Mutati led faction Raphael Nakacinda says the PF’s biggest enemy is the economy.
And Nakacinda says Higher Education Minister Professor Nkandu Luo would have resigned after the death of Vespers Shimuzhila if she had any morals.
Meanwhile, Nakacinda says Chief Government Spokesperson should sober up when giving official positions to avoid embarrassment.
Nakacinda said this when he featured on Hot FM’s ‘Frank on Hot’ programme, Tuesday.
He said PF’s greatest enemy was the economy and called on its leadership to open up their ears to advice.
“The real opposition for the Patriotic Front, as a government being in the driving seat under President Edgar Lungu, is not UPND. Actually UPND seem to be lost, their leader seems to be really petty over certain issues and playing cheap politics. There isn’t really a formidable arrangement that can govern out the Zambian people to make certain decisions. Us as MMD as some quarters have been speculating, we are not their enemy. We are their friends. The greatest enemy of Patriotic Front is the economy. It’s the one that can actually be able to assemble an opposition even outside those that they seem to be focusing on,” he said.
“So if there is going to be anything that the PF needs to look at is the economy and as MMD, we have a wealth of experience having undertaken such a mammoth task before. There is no need for our colleagues to ask the question. I know they have honourable Felix Mutati on the desk in Cabinet [and] let them ask the important questions and possibly go beyond him and say ‘who can we assemble to consult?’ Balingile ukufumya ubutonge mumatwi (they are supposed to remove the cotton seal in their ears) because in the ears is where there is life for the Patriotic Front. If they close their ears, they are not going to survive. The real answer to the Patriotic Front’s stay in government lies in their ears. Let them open up their ears and seek for advice on what should be done at a particular time.”
And Nakacinda said Prof Luo would have resigned after Vespers’ death if she had any morals.
“Personally I have expressed before, months ago when we had the Minister Professor Nkandu Luo ban student unionism in Higher Learning institutions, we did indicate that it’s a mistake. Students unionism is a global phenomena because higher learning institutions are a nursery for the development of the intellectuals and therefore it becomes also a platform through which policies of the nation are influenced. So, just that singular decision to ban unionism has created the situation that we are faced with this time around. As the national secretary for the Movement for Multi-party Democracy, I want to call upon the president to be decisive. Ministers are expected to account for every action or policy position they take if it leads to chaos, worse still if it leads to a loss of life,” Nakacinda said.
“For me, I would want to clothe responsibility of the Minister of Higher education and if she had any morals, she would first of all resign, by just virtue of that loss of life because the problem in institutions of higher learning has not stopped. They have just worsened and I think there is need to make a decision in that regard.”
Meanwhile, Nakacinda condemned UNZA students for insulting Siliya but advised the information minister to sober up when giving official government positions.
“I think the behaviour of students must be condemned with the contempt it deserves especially that that conduct was exhibited during a funeral, even out of just respect of the deceased. I think it was unfortunate and unnecessary. That behaviour is un-Zambian [and] it should not be tolerated. But coming to the minister, I think also the minister needs to take responsibility. She is for God’s sake the government spokesperson and it is expected I think maybe in general terms we need to have government insist that those who are communicating on behalf of government, those communicating on behalf of the president, Chief Government Spokesperson and other jurisdictions to sober up. There is no need to be in a hurry to comment on matters that you can also sit and think about,” said Nakacinda.
“I think the Minister of Information has been highly hyper, emotional [and] tweeting emotional expressions. The moment you begin to trade emotions, you also receive responses which are emotional and for young people, emotional expressions are sometimes unguided. So I think it is important that she sobers up, and if she is not ready to take up that role, she can equally give room to others who will take it in a mature manner. Government must not be afraid to wait until they give a factual position and it must be communicated. The minister needs to know that what she communicates is a government position.”
Source: Diggers