REVISE PF CONSTITUTION, CHANODA DEMANDS

By SIMON MUNTEMBATHE Patriotic Front constitution should be revised to allow people to be elected to positions where a party President is allowed to hand pick, a PF member Chanoda Ngwira has said.Mr Ngwira said the best way to rebrand PF was to dissolve its central committee, scrap all the positions and go for fresh elections.He said currently, the PF constitution allowed its president to appoint individuals to some positions but that during the rebranding period, it was better for new office bearers to be elected.He said the new central committee should consist of 60 percent young people if the party was to make an impact, considering that most of the voters in the last general elections were youths.In an interview, Mr Ngwira said having the same old people who misled President Edgar Lungu to be at the helm of the PF would not yield any results.He said if rebranding was to achieve its intended purpose, there was need to urgently call for a general conference that would usher in new leadership.“We need to have fresh elections to usher in new youthful leaders. The new central committee should consist of 60 percent youths.“We can’t have the same people who misled the President continue leading the party. However, it doesn’t mean the old ones won’t be incorporated, others will be retained,” he said.He said the former ruling party would be going round in the same circle if it continued with the same leadership that lost elections on August 12.Mr Ngwira, who was among the Chasefu aspirants in the just ended elections, said it was high time PF reconciled with those who left the party for whatever reasons.On Monday, PF youth vice chairperson Kelvin Kaunda also called for the dissolution of the central committee.Mr Kaunda also welcomed the resignation of Secretary General Davies Mwila and national chairman, Samuel Mukupa.“We cannot rebuild the party by recycling the same leadership, the only way we are going to rebuild the party is to invite new minds, is to invite fresh blood.“But then if we are going to begin to rebuild the party with the same Central Committee which plunged us into the same problems we are experiencing, then what kind of rebuilding is that?’’