Friday, March 29, 2024

I can never join the ruling UPND even when given an opportunity to serve-Antonio Mwanza

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PATRIOTIC Front (PF) party Media Director Antonio Mourinho Mwanza says he can never join the ruling UPND even when given an opportunity to serve.

This follows minor setbacks by the opposition PF which has seen few of its individuals jumping ship and joining the ruling party. Mr Mwanza said his role is to ensure that the government is held accountable until it delivers.

“Those that are defecting are exercising their constitutional rights to belong to any Political party. I have two primary goals. To hold this government accountable on what they do and what they do not do as well as to make sure that the Patriotic Front emerges stronger in 2026 than what it was in 2021,” he said.

Former opposition PF National Youth Chairman who is also immediate former Kasama Central Member of Parliament, Kelvin Sampa who defected together with others to join the ruling UPND
Former opposition PF National Youth Chairman who is also immediate former Kasama Central Member of Parliament, Kelvin Sampa who defected together with others to join the ruling UPND

And Mr Mwanza has described the ruling UPND as a “Confused” Political Party without direction. He said the UPND is a political party where one does not know what the Government’s position is.

He said this can be seen from different statements that come from the UPND leadership on topical issues.

“There are too many statements coming from different officials. On the issue of fuel, President Hichilema said they removed subsidies in order to provide for free education, his Vice President said they removed subsidies because they have to increase in order to reduce.

“The Minister of Finance said there are no fuel subsidies, Minister for Southern Province Cornelius Mweetwa said they removed subsidies because it was one of the conditionalities given by IMF, Minister of Energy Peter Kapala said there are no subsidies but tax waivers and the Chief Government Spokesperson Chushi Kasanda said the increment of fuel was due to Russia Ukraine war,” he said.

Mr Mwanza said the truth of the matter is that subsidies were removed in 2013 during the reign of the late President Micheal Sata.

He said what is there are tax incentives on fuel which the current government is planning to remove in June this year. Mr Mwanza said that companies risk closing after June because the cost of doing business will be high.

He added that it is ironic that amidst the various challenges the country is facing, Cabinet has only sat Six (6) times in over 279 days.

“President Edgar Lungu and the PF Government cared for the people of Zambia and introduced Tax waivers on Fuel. The Ministry of Finance and energy have said they will not renew this tax waiver by June. There will be more problems in Zambia because the cost of doing business will be high,” he said.

35 COMMENTS

  1. If I was the UPND then I would NEVER allow any former PF-ers to join the party. They would instantly reverse the move if and when the situation changes. Can’t trust those people.

  2. Every well meaning zambian should join GRZ in reversing the rot and decay left by lungu and PF…………

    Do politics in the election year, there is no time to waste on these political prostitutes

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  3. The only way to strengthen democracy is to have strong opposition parties that are capable of winning an election. This habit of enticing opposition members only results into what they call DOING THE SAME THING IN THE SAME WAY AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT. We have killed Unip, we have killed MMD and now the guns are trained at PF. If the defector didn’t deliver with PF what value do you expect them to add to your party. Ask yourself had PF won was he going to defect? In football we say IT’S DANGEROUS TO CHANGE A WINNING TEAM. Those who abandon their parties do so for the sake of maintaining their lavish life styles. Honest people after losing an election will either work hard to revamp the party or leave politics and allow new blood to carry on.

  4. THEY WOULDNT ACCEPT YOU ANYWAY
    SO WHY IS IT EVEN BEING DEBATED
    YOU ARE TRYING TO CEMENT YOUR POSITION IN PF FOR FUTHER GAINS

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  5. These are rats who mess up the room then leave …come back and start asking you how long it will take you to clean up the room so they can sleep!!

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  6. I will not hold my breath in taking this guy’s pronouncements seriously. He promised things he failed to deliver. He was FDD and vehemently vocal against PF. See what happened? The spots still look like those of a leopard even if there are some new inkings there…

  7. Yes, defecting is a weak option but going back to the drawing board and repositioning a political party is the best and healthy way to strengthen ideals of democracy.

  8. @5 Tikki and Tarino
    He is simply trying to get the attention of HH…no one is even talking about this Mwanza Bandit…and these are the same morons who bring down HH

  9. I share in your sentiments. Only troubled crooked minds would join a party led by a man who is responsible for zambia being poor through his shady privatisation deals. Only spineless cows can join upnd. Some of us are principled

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  10. Mbuzi Meeeeeeeeeeeeee, principled!, the boat has sunk rational beings are swimming to the shore, foolish ones are principled sinking with it.

  11. Who can even give you that opportunity manyafunyafu iwe pamo na kz bapumbafu imwe. ATI principled when you used to fight for corrupt deals with ka chanda publicly on recorded videos.

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  12. Charles, I would rather eat my dogs faeces than join that tribal grouping. By the way , I named my dog hakainde

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  13. Flip flopper, mmd, fdd, pf, no direction, in fact he also tried upnd. One he doesn’t get what he wants he runs away. Selfish character.

  14. Now listen to his statement “even if given a chance to serve”….I think he wanted to mention FDD because I don’t think criminals like this should be entertained

  15. Mr. Mwanza, sometimes it is good to accept that your defeat as a party was the worst ever since Zambia started voting, next the PF tolerated thugs and thieves to steal freely, its painful not to receive free money for talking nonsense. Kindly respect the government of the day, re-orgarnize your party without using hate speech and tribalism maybe just maybe you may by God’s grace come back in future like 2091

  16. Tibaziba ba Antonio Mwanza. Apa he is still enjoying the loot from the PF. We shall see njala ikamunyokola. Nipano tuli.

  17. Iwe AM, do the honourable and bring back to the national coffers what was I’ll gained . You guys tanked the economy right at the bottom of the pit yet you’re the first ones to cry foul on the current administration. Mwaba shani kanshi imwe ba mambala?

  18. Each time I read what Antonio Mwanza’s attacks on UPND and its leadership there is decisive response from our media team, its like gone to sleep or still celebrating. We must be alert all time and counter any accusations otherwise with using the social media the PF will continue poisoning the majority ‘s mindset.

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