Staff Reporter
I am ready to work with UPND if invited, says former UPND member of parliament for Senanga Mulowa Mukumbuta.
Asked if he regretted the fact that there was acrimony between himself and his party, which viewed him as a rebel, following his alignment with the then ruling PF especially on the failed Bill 10, and that he probably could have been minister by now if that had not happened, Mukumbuta defined whatever happened as the will of God.
“Regretting? In which way? I think that was the will of God. To me I take it whatever situation comes to me, that is the will of God. Only true leadership comes from God. So I think that is the wish, the will of God and nothing to regret at all,” Mukumbuta said. “That is the will of God, and whichever God who makes a way, definitely, if one door is closed the other door will be opened. That is what I believe in. I went into politics for service, entirely for service. I went into politics when I had more money than I came out of politics. So I think that is the will of God. If that is what God wanted it to be, who am I to question it?”
Asked if he had any intentions of working with President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND again, Mukumbuta said: “If I am invited. If I am invited I can work. If I am invited. I am sure the new dawn government is just a matter of time. To me I think it will deliver to the expectation of Zambians. To me I think it is too early to judge them. I think I feel let them be given an opportunity, not only the President, even all the MPs must be given an opportunity to deliver.”
He said the current members of parliament have less work to do, arguing that during the time he served as MP, they would take developmental projects to the communities from their pockets but now CDF was enough and all that was needed was to provide an oversight role. He said the oversight role needed to be effective to avoid a situation where money would end up in selfish individuals pockets.
On the opposition parties, Mukumbuta said it was too early to tell which opposition will rise as a major threat to the UPND’s hold on power as he did not see any at the moment.
But he said he could not judge whether the PF was gone for good, and that the same applied with the former ruling MMD.
Asked if he aspired to bounce back to parliament one day and where he saw himself politically, Mukumbuta said he could still bounce back to parliament one day.
“I think it is possible. It is possible. But I think it’s you the journalists to find out to the people of Senanga whether they feel me I can bounce back or not because power is with the people,” he said.
He said he was not like some people who jump up and down joining from one ruling party to another.
“Honestly, honestly, I should caution the President to see the type of people he is trying to work with. You know me I joined UPND on 10th June 1999 and no other party I have joined. Even now I don’t intend to join any other party, maybe forming my own party. I don’t intend to join any other party because I don’t believe in jumping,” Mukumbuta said. “Actually sometimes its good to be a watchdog than to be part of the system. As a Zambian also I have a role to play.”
But reminded that he had said that if invited he was ready to rejoin the UPND, Mukumbuta said: “If I am invited am I joining any other party? And I am not rejoining UPND because I never resigned from UPND. I resigned from UPND because the law says when you want to stand as an independent you should resign ai? I didn’t resign from UPND to join any other party, not even PF, not MMD. Not any other party. I never resigned. And that is my principle. And you saw people who resigned they are quick to rejoin the UPND. Probably they never made a good decision to resign.”
Mukumbuta said the administration has done well by releasing the CDF, from the K1.6 million which he said never used to be released yearly to K25.7 million.
He said the UPND was on the right track if all their plans could be fulfilled especially on empowering the communities.
However, Mukumbuta said the cost of living was definitely high, “even if the other day I heard the Vice-President saying that it is coming down.”
“The cost of living is high due to high prices of fuel. They are saying Russia-Ukraine war, that is the major cause of that, and let us give the government chance to deliver according to their promises. Definitely the cost of living is high and that is attributed to the high cost of fuel. Because when fuel goes up, everything goes up,” said Mukumbuta.
