.Mwila

By REBECCA MUSHOTA and JAMES KUNDA –
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) Secretary General Davies Mwila has said that the party attaches no conditions to the political parties’ dialogue process initiated by the Commonwealth Secretariat and spearheaded by the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID).
The PF has already accepted an invitation by ZCID to attend a presidential summit set for January, an occasion which could see President Edgar Lungu and opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema coming together under one roof for the first time since last year’s general elections.
Mr Mwila said following a PF national executive committee meeting held last week, a decision was reached committing the party to the dialogue process without any pre-conditions.
He said the party was of the view that the dialogue process should not just involve the PF and the main opposition (UPND) but all registered political parties.
“We are grateful to the Commonwealth for initiating the talks and we are comfortable that a Zambian institution, ZCID, is spearheading the talks,” Mr Mwila said.
He said comments attributed to party officials stating there could be no dialogue without the UPND first recognising President Edgar Lungu as the Head of State, Mr Mwila said the statements did not represent a precondition but were merely a reminder of the reality and had no bearing on the party’s commitment to the process.
He said there was no need debating who the Head of State was when the country was moving forward under the Government led by President Lungu.
Mr Mwila said the ZCID had written to the PF about the presidential summit for January which the party was ready to attend.
He expressed his confidence that the meeting would be successful.
Mr Mwila also directed that going forward, he was the only person allowed to comment or answer questions on behalf of the party regarding the dialogue process.
He said ZCID was the ideal body to handle the dialogue process because it had all political parties represented and running it.
And Mr Mwila has said the PF would dedicate next year to rigorous party mobilisation to garner extra membership ahead of the 2021 general elections.
He said in an exclusive interview yesterday that the party would continue reaching out to new members to consolidate its growing footprint on the Zambian political scene.
“Politics is about numbers and that is why both new and erstwhile members who wish to rejoin us are being embraced. Those who can’t beat us should simply join us and we are calling on party structures countrywide to work hard on membership mobilisation,” he said.
He said in the spirit of continued intraparty democracy, the ruling party had been conducting provincial elections to give many members a chance at leadership.
Mr Mwila said having successfully concluded an election in North-western Province, the intraparty polls would next be held in Western Province.
He said 2017 had been a successful year for the ruling PF Government, owing to the many developmental programmes being implemented.
Mr Mwila said the Kwacha had remained stable against other convertible currencies, while inflation had remained within a single digit and the staple food had also become more affordable.
He said the international community had maintained its confidence in the Zambian economy owing to the PF’s democratic style of governance.
This, he said was why countries like Brazil were able to write-off 80 per cent of the debt owed to them by Zambia.