By Mubanga Mubanga
PF Pamodzi alliance leader Makebi Zulu has warned the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) not to think that the country belongs to them alone.
Speaking during the press briefing in Lusaka today, Zulu said ECZ could not disqualify a presidential candidate using administrative laws or administrative procedures.
He stressed that the commission could not come up with laws which were not enshrined in the law, simply because they wanted the UPND to continue in government.
“We will be on the ballot through one. If you see my face you have seen his face (pointing at Mundubile). if you his face, you have seen ba Musenge’s face. Because we are tired of Kimunya,” Zulu said. “And this is the warning we are telling ECZ. This is not your country, this country belongs to the Zambians. We have the law that prescribes what qualifies one. We can’t be disqualified by administrative laws or administrative procedures, that are not enshrined in law. We can’t have you coming up with laws intended to perpetuate kimunya. We can’t have you do that.”
Zulu said he and other opposition political parties had heard the call by the Zambian people for them to unite. He said at the opportune time the alliance was going to unveil the candidate they were going to support.
“We know what this government intends to do. But we are here with one message. One for all, and all for one. As an opposition we are saying we are going to stand for one. And one is going to stand for all. We are going to play smart. To be all for one, one for all. You drop one, we pick another. You drop another, we pick another. But, at any given time we shall stand for one. And one shall stand for all. And we are doing that because the Zambian people have called for it,” said Zulu. “All this is a call to serve the Zambian people. We have decided to lay aside our ambitions, and say we are going to support one. We shall unveil that one in time. Because we know the tactics of the UPND. But we can assure them that we will be on the ballot.”
And Tonse Alliance president Brian Mundubile said the UPND government had divided the country across tribal and regional lines.
“We have realised that this country is divided. It is divided across regions, divided across tribes. We have gone back to the drawing board. We want to start afresh. We want to start from the beginning. And starting afresh you can only start with a team that we have here. Today, there has never been a time that Zambians have been so overly conscious about their ethnicity,” Zulu said. “Today, it is not enough to tell somebody your name. They will ask you what tribe you are? And we are saying abash to tribalism. We are starting a journey where we will bury tribalism. We are starting a journey where we will bury regionalism. Because we simply want to be Zambians.”
And We are One Zambia (WOZA) 4th Republic alliance chairperson Sakwiba Sikota said what made the new alliance “unique” was because it was made up of different alliances.
