By Patson Chilemba
PF only uses the Church to launder Edgar Lungu as a humble man, Chief Government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has charged.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mweetwa, who is information minister, said while those in PF were crititising President Hakainde Hichilema for being absent at the prayer gatherings, where former president Edgar Lungu attended national prayer and repentance day at Shalom Embassy, they were hounding each other out of
Church.
He said instead of using the occasion to reconcile different factions in PF, they engaged in beating people suspected to be opposed to the “ill-fated alebwelelapo.
The PF and other Zambians have criticized President Hakainde Hichilema for making light of the national day of prayer in that he has never attended any of the prayer events since he came into office. Lungu has always attended those events both during his presidency and out of power, despite the recent one having been marred by violent incident from his cadres. Daily Revelation was told from many different accounts of how a former diplomat to Ethiopia, Brian Nyoni, was forcibly removed from Church by Lungu’s supporters over alleged links to party national chairman Davies Chama who has urged Lungu to forego the presidency.
Mweetwa responding, said State House has clarified the President’s absence and that he conducted events in a manner that was termed fit because the solemnity of that day should not be politicized, saying this is where PF got matters wrong.
“They are criticizing HH on one hand but them true to the fact that they did not go to pray honestly they went to start fighting. They went to start fighting at Church. They went to start hounding each other at Church. Which is diametrically opposed to what that day is professed to stand for, that is to say day for national prayers and I underline reconciliation,” Mweetwa said. “So if they have issues with those people who are opposed to the ill-fated alebwelelapo, that should have been a perfect occasion to reconcile, to join hands as members of one family and be able to tolerate each other. They are simply intolerant and the people of Zambia should not tolerate them even an inch. I personally believe in the people of Zambia.”
Mweetwa said the PF has never had respect for the Church, even from the time they were in the ruling party, saying they “epitomised their violent trajectory of governance by attacking then opposition leader Hakainde at the funeral of the late mama Betty Kaunda.”
He said another violent incident happened at BIGOCA Church.
“They would only use the Church and the pulpit as a way of laundering their stained political lineages. They would use the pulpit to try and posture what they called a humble man, to be a humble man in total disguise of violence,” Mweetwa said, saying this was a group of people which was now exhibiting its true self following another violent incident where Nyoni was forcibly removed from Shalom Embassy Church where Lungu was attending national prayer days over alleged links to Chama. “Umwana wa nsoka ni nsoka (The child of a snake is a snake). And a snake even if it changes colour, I mean even if it removes that outer shell it still remains venomous and it’s the same snake. Here they are. Because of the newly found freedom they are now beginning to swear at each other already. The same way they were swearing at each other at the secretariat over their wrangles.”
He said Zambians should not forget that this is a group of individuals who have told the nation that they are regrouping by attending Church services and funerals.
Mweetwa said they have since abandoned the idea of rebranding and were now focused on regrouping as they have failed to rebrand, which he said was bringing back the same old characters in their same regalia and mindset, which he claimed entailed violence, intolerance and other vices which Zambians rejected.
He said the name PF reminds people of the anguish and suffering they went through, including gassing, police brutality and violence during elections.
Mweetwa said the PF regrouping should not be entertained.
He said Zambians will not allow the PF regrouping to see the light of day.
“This regrouping can go ahead but it will not see the light of day. It is exactly the example of intolerance which they demonstrated yesterday (during day of national prayer at Shalom Embassy), which is the reason why the people of Zambia rejected them, flushed them out and they are supposed to have been using this time to reflect on why they were rejected and try and reconcile first amongst themselves before they can talk to the people of Zambia,” he said, and claimed that while the PF were calling for nationwide demonstrations, the UPND administration has put in place measures like bringing on board the “affordable mealie meal” at K230 from ZNS.
But put to him that the K230 was too expensive and too much for ordinary Zambians, Mweetwa said while the other brands were selling at K292, the difference of over K60 can still be noted, describing the same as a positive indicator.
He said now that the mealie meal has reduced, the PF were criticising the move that it was affecting the operations of the other millers.
Mweetwa said he has never seen an opposition party criticize a move that has been taken to reduce the cost of living during his many years of opposition politics.
“Let them regroup we shall meet them in the field, and they should not even think that this is an easy undertaking. And this is not because of our own efforts and power, this is because of what we have this far under the leadership of President HH, we have been able to do commensurate to the electoral commitments that were made ahead of 2021 general elections on one hand and those that are still outstanding and surrounding the cost of living, they are being worked on round the clock,” said Mweetwa.
He said there was pressure on Zambian mealie meal around the region as the cheapest, and also because of unfavourable climatic conditions in other regions and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He said he had free advice for the PF having spent a long time in the opposition, that when a positive move has been taken by those in government it was simply right to appreciate or simply keep quiet about it, in order to create a platform of moral legitimacy to criticize the same government when they make decisions viewed to be inimical to the interests of the country.
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