By BRIAN HATYOKA  and CHUSA SICHONE –

VICE-President Guy Scott has urged Patriotic Front (PF) members to move on and avoid being despondent following the ruling party’s loss during the just-ended Katuba parliamentary by-election.
Dr Scott said PF members should not start worrying about the defeat in Katuba, which was won by United Party for National Development (UPND) candidate Jonas Shakafuswa, because the seat was not previously held by the ruling party but by MMD.
He said it was incorrect for the opposition to insinuate that UPND’s victory in Katuba was a revolution because PF performed better compared to 2011 when the ruling party came third after MMD and UPND in the same area.
Dr Scott was speaking in Livingstone on Sunday evening at the Civic Centre when he addressed PF supporters.
“As I was driving in Lusaka, one man shouted that ‘we have won Katuba and the revolution is here’.  How can that be a revolution for just one parliamentary seat out of 158 Members of Parliament (MPs)?” Dr Scott said.
He said political parties had to fight a lot to keep their positions like it was in the case for United National Independence Party (UNIP) and MMD which stayed in power for 27 and 20 years respectively.
He urged Zambians and PF members to have more patience with PF because the ruling party was only about two and half years in power.
Speaking earlier at the same meeting, Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe asked PF members who were weak and faint hearted to leave the party.
And PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba has said electoral indicators since 2011 have shown that the ruling party was still growing strong despite losing the recent Katuba by-election.
Mr Kabimba also called on party members, especially Cabinet ministers, to understand the PF manifesto in order to understand the party’s vision for the country.
“This has been President Sata’s directive, we should read and understand the PF manifesto. Everyone in the party structures especially Cabinet ministers should do that,” Mr Kabimba said.
He said the PF membership across the country had the duty to ensure that the ruling party delivered to the Zambians based on its manifesto.
Mr Kabimba said out of the 19 parliamentary by-elections held since 2011, PF had won 10, UPND had managed six victories while the MMD managed to win three.
Mr Kabimba said the PF had so far won 91 local government elections out of 127 held since 2011 followed by the MMD with 22 seats while UPND got 14.
Mr Kabimba said during the Sunday Interview programme on ZNBC that UPND scooped the seat based on tribal campaigns, which he strongly denounced as divisive politicking.
He said Mr Shakafuswa’s victory was a fluke, especially that it was anchored on tribal campaign technique.
“It was a tribal vote and nothing else. Nowhere did you ever hear a campaign message of saying don’t vote for PF because PF has failed to deliver because that wouldn’t have startled anybody because we are delivering. So the easiest message was vote for your tribesman,” Mr Kabimba said.
He said Zambia was a democratic country and that democracy entailed a popularity contest among political parties and that the Katuba by-election dispelled the allegations of vote rigging by the opposition.
He urged peace-loving Zambians to denounce tribalism as it was a recipe for civil strife, wrong, anti-Zambian, not nationalistic and that a tribal tramp card could not be used to measure the leadership qualities of an individual.