LET’S HOLD CONVENTION, PF OFFICIALS DEMAND

By KETRA KALUNGA IT is possible for the Patriotic Front to bounce back to power only if members and leaders remain united and focused, a PF officials Gabriel Namulambe has said. Mr Namulambe also said PF must hold an extraordinary general conference to elect a president who should continue running the affairs of the party instead of rushing into making decisions in leadership positions which were wrong. “Those in leadership positions must take heart since the Party President has accepted defeat and there is a new government in place. They should not rush into making changes but reflect, do an introspection of what happened, where they went wrong and not blaming each other,” he said. Mr Namulambe said the PF should remain relevant even in opposition by holding the UPND leadership accountable on all the campaign promises. “What PF must learn from UPND is that they have been consistent despite losing elections many times, they have been consistent,” he said. Mr Gabriel Namulambe said the former ruling party should accept that mistakes were made in running the affairs of the country instead of portioning blame. He said failure to accept mistakes would lead the party into extinction. Mr Namulambe said in an interview that the PF should quickly go for a convention to reflect on what went wrong and how to correct those mistakes. If that was done, he said, the party would avoid falling into the trap that UNIP and MMD went into after losing power. Another PF member, Mr Lemmy Bwalya also said the party should go for a general conference to elect new office bearers who are going to save it from collapse. Mr Bwalya said elected leaders usually perform better because they receive maximum support of everyone. He said all PF members with ambitions to lead the party must be given an opportunity to vie for positions at the general conference. Mr Bwalya said in as much as the party president had power to appoint some office bearers, he should allow for a democratic process at this delicate time. Meanwhile, Mr Bwalya said the only time Zambia was going to see change and appreciate being a democratic nation, was when PF give 100 percent support to the current government for sake of the wellbeing of citizens. He said the PF administration partly lost the election because they never paid much attention to many cries of the people especially the party lower structures. Mr Bwalya said for now, Pf should work with UPND to uplift the living standard of citizens and put politics aside.