Lungu, PF shall decide
Vice-President Wina tells parliament that President Lungu’s statement suggesting he will only serve up to 2021 was misconstrued and that the PF and himself shall decide his candidature for the 2021 elections
By Staff Reporter
VICE-President Inonge Wina says the ruling PF and President Edgar Lungu will decide whether he will contest the 2021 general elections.
And vice-president Wina said President Lungu never declared that he would not recentest the presidency when his term office comes to an end in 2021. She claimed President Lungu’s statement was misconstrued and misunderstand.
She said, “he said that his term of office, the current term of office, ends in 2021 and then, it will be decided by the party and himself whether he wants to stand or not. So, if there are leaders who are aspiring to take that position, hear me…. Madam Speaker, this country faces a lot of developmental challenges that leaders should worry about,” Vice-President Wina noted.
During the Vice-President’s question time in Parliament this monring, Choma central UPND member of parliament Cornelius Mweetwa sought clarity on whether or not President Lungu would be a presidential candidate in 2021, considering that the Head of State recently gave an ambivalent comment on the matter.
“Your Honour the Vice-President, clinging on to power beyond reasonableness or beyond legitimate tenure of office is a common source of political instability in Africa as we are now witnessing a bizarre unfolding of the political situation in Zimbabwe. Sometime last week, I think, President Lungu told the nation that he is going only up to 2021 and quickly, the secretary general of the PF rushed to the media to nullify the statement that the Head of State and his own party president had made, leaving ordinary citizens to wonder who to believe now – whether President Lungu or his secretary general of PF. This is bringing some level of uncertainty in the minds of the citizens. In view of the aforesaid, Your Honour the Vice-President, what is the correct position that the citizens of this country should take about President Lungu’s desire to contest or not re-contest in 2021 and not the legality which is being challenged in court?” asked Mweetwa.
In response, Vice-President Wina noted that PF secretary general Davies Mwila had every right to inform Zambians the ruling party’s preferred candidate.
“Madam Speaker, clinging to power is not only a phenomenon of presiding Presidents because we have seen even in political parties that leaders have held on to power for a very long time without allowing intra-party democracy to take root in those parties. The secretary general of PF has every right to inform the nation as to the party’s preferred candidate at any given time. So, this is what happened!” Vice-President Wina said.
Vice-President Wina added that “in any case, President Lungu never declared that he will never stand.”
“He said that his term of office, the current term of office, ends in 2021 and then, it will be decided by the party and himself whether he wants to stand or not. So, if there are leaders who are aspiring to take that position, hear me…. Madam Speaker, this country faces a lot of developmental challenges that leaders should worry about,” Vice-President Wina noted.
“But this insistence on the presidency by our leaders leaves me to wonder whether we actually want to develop this country or we just want to be in State House. So, I would like to urge my fellow members of parliament and others out there that please, let us focus on the challenges that our country faces, the challenges that our people face so that we come out of this situation as a country, not to be scrambling for positions almost on [a] daily basis. I thank you, madam Speaker.”
Meanwhile, in response to Kanchibiya PF member of parliament Dr Martin Malama who asked when the government would update the House on the political stand-off in Zimbabwe, the Vice-President underlined that, “too many comments will spoil the soup.”
“The President has already given a statement on the same matter and for the Zambians, it’s to wait and see. I think the country should know that as part of the SADC community, the President of the Republic of Zambia is the deputy chair of the Troika, a unit of SADC that looks into security and peace issues. Already, Zambia is engaged in the process through its foreign minister who is already in Botswana and meeting other SADC Troika members to look at the issue of Zimbabwe. Our interest as government, Madam Speaker, is to ensure that the Zimbabwean authorities reach a compromise and resolve their differences amicably,” explained Vice-President Wina.
