By Hon Elizabeth Chitika National Secretary

Members of the Press, We have invited you here in order to set the record about our party straight.

I wish to respond to the rantings of one Raphael Nakachinda over the weekend. I do so knowing that he does not deserve a response from us but for the sake of those who are vulnerable and easily swayed I wish to clear the lies told.

Firstly let me state clearly that every dog has its day. Nakachinda will find what he is looking for and that day is not far. Meantime, let me restate for the 100th time that he is not a member of our party. He remains expelled and has no single right to speak on behalf of the MMD.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF THE POLICE.

It is clear to see that the Zambia police is two-faced when it comes to the MMD. Last week some pastors in Linda compound here in Lusaka invited the Party President Dr Nevers Mumba for fellowship and the police despite notification stopped the meeting from taking place, meanwhile they continue to aid an illegal group. It seems the police under the PF are a political wing of the ruling party. Both the IG and the Deputy IG were informed of the planned meeting ahead of time and had the address of the meeting place. When a law enforcement agency becomes lawless then it is clear that chaos and violence follows. The police have become a threat to peace in the nation. If the same command remains in office until election time, Zambia may experience mayhem. We need a professional police service which serves all Zambians equitably. The current police is a ruling party security wing.

EXPULSION OF MPs

It is laughable that the expelled MPs were announcing their expulsion from the party. I can confirm that we have indeed expelled them because they do not work with the party. The reasons which they gave the public yesterday are their own imagination. The MMD is a party of discipline and order and shall not compromise its values for overrated individuals who believe their mere connection to PF is the License to arrogance. These members’ disciplinary action was recommended by the own constituency and district committees and due process was followed, that is why it took this long. If they think dancing in that manner in the public will save them, we wish them well.

BY ELECTIONS

We are participating in the forth coming by-elections. Our campaign teams are on the ground and we are excited that after such a long time of absence from elections, we are back again.

We are looking forward to a good, violence free and issue based campaign.

For Nakachinda and his band of stick-ons, all he lives for is to please the Patriotic Front. When we say they are not MMD this is what we mean. If they even were remotely members of this party, they would be excited to contest in elections and not endorse another party.

For 3 and half years when they illegally posed as leaders of our party, all they were, was to be dancing queens at PF events. Even now, in their shock, all they wish to be is to be mercenaries for another political party against another. The simpler thing for them to do is to openly join the Patriotic Front, but of course that would cut of funding for their mercenary activities such as they had the other day. What a terrible and hopeless life to lead. No purpose, no dignity and no certain future.

On the other hand, we wish to warn the PF about these so called endorsements from Nakachinda. Everyone can see that all that Nakachinda is doing is putting up a dance (as his name seems to suggest) for them. Kalela ne mfunkutu aleshana. But it is for the PF to continue to pay him for his dances while their own members remain without help. We wish to warn that, should they carry that falsehood of the so called alliance, into the campaign we shall petition the election. In the same vein, We have also written to the Elections body (ECZ) about this act of provocation ahead of the by elections. We demand that the PF publicly distance themselves from Nakachinda’s statement about MMD supporting the PF candidate in the forth coming by-elections. If they don’t, we wish to put it on record that we shall petition these elections.

ON PARTY MOBILISATION.

We wish to inform the nation that we have completed visits to 6 provinces in the past two months and are now going to the rest of the country. We have taken a short break in order to participate in the elections, before we continue. The mood in our party across the nation is extremely that of high morale. It is clear to most Zambians now that our Party President Dr Nevers Sekwila Mumba has become the candidate of choice for President in the 2021 Presidential elections. Most Zambians are openly declaring that they now want a God fearing leader who shall fully interpret and implement the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation.

Our members are so excited and have been donating their monies under very difficult circumstances in order to prepare for both the Convention and 2021 General elections.
On behalf of the National Executive Committee, I wish to assure our members Nation Wide to focus on the ongoing Mobilization in preparation to the elections next year. As for Nakachinda, he will soon be nabbed and brought to brutal justice which shall not only end his Kandile lifestyle but his fragile political career.

We are aware that the masters who are sending him needed a criminal to carry out these criminal activities. His masters know his history and are confident he can do criminal work. To disregard the Judgement of court is CONTEMPT and is a criminal offense. That makes him a criminal. We know that it’s not all policemen who are corrupt and unprofessional.

We also know that it is not every judge who is corrupt, we have some principled and honorable Judges. It’s just a matter of time, Nakachinda shall soon fall into one of these Judges’ hands and shall be sent back to prison. The only string keeping him out of jail is the PF string and it’s weakening by the day.

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member.

On the issue of stimulating the economy through the COVID19 period, the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Mr. Hakainde Hichilema were unequivocally clear about what we needed to do:

1. Government suspend its unquenchable appetite for wasteful, non product public spending….and

2. Use the public debt service relief provided by both multilateral and bilateral partners to achieve and deliver the following business environment incentives:

a) Suspend VAT and PAYE for businesses for a minimum 6 months period, with the option of extending the relief period to 1 year. After all, government has been able to give prolonged tax concessions to multinationals spanning close to 20 years.

b) Accelerate power imports to mitigate the effects of prolonged loadshedding on SMEs

c) Reduce or suspend certain consumption taxes on fuel to lower the pump price for at least 6 months, with an option to extend.

The UPND had further proposed that government expands access to emergency financing for businesses by doing the following:

a) Government reduced the statutory reserve requirement for commercial banks from the current 9% to perhaps 6% or 7%…..and further

b) Reduce the monetary policy rate to around 9% – something the Bank of Zambia actually delivered.

The UPND were affirmative in our belief, that these measures could have gone a long way towards aiding our ailing economy through this incredibly difficult time; and Denny Kalyalya would not have lost his job.

BUT, President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front (PF), in their predictable nonsensical fashion, announced a K10bn or around $560m of a “stimulus” package to help SMEs through the tumultuous COVID19 times.

This was K10bn which was meant to be printed by BoZ and given out to PF operatives in the name of “suppliers'” payments, effectively bankrolling the Patriotic Front political establishment. Remember, all major government supply contracts are currently held by PF cadres and their mafia friends in the private sector.

But since the announcement was made, and up to date, only K1bn or 10% of this stimulus package is said to have been “disbursed.”

It is infact for this very reason that the former Bank of Zambia governor – Denny Kalyalya was fired.

The question no one is asking is this: where was Denny and BoZ going to get K10bn to disburse to facilitate this “stimulus” package?

The problem with the PF and its entire leadership is that they are used and addicted to money that just materialises out of nothing. The kind of easy money where they have never had to lift a finger to generate, proceeds of criminal wrongdoing anchored on zero productivity.

The PF regime actually think that BoZ should be printing money to support their reckless exuberance around public spending.

Here is what Christopher Nvunga will have to do: either print the money the PF are after or break all central banking regulations and bring those foreign reserves to much less than $1bn.

Kalyalya did all he could. The PF were even lucky to get the K1bn of printed cash otherwise no central bank governor, especially not in an economy the size of Zambia with zero productivity, should ever have to print money for political reasons.