(LUSAKATIMES) Fomer UNIP MPs migrate to PF

Fomer UNIP MPs migrate to PF
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 12:27

Three former Members of Parliament (MPs) in Eastern province have officially resigned from the former ruling party UNIP to join the opposition Patriotic Front.

The three are former Chipangali MP, Lucas Phiri, former Chama North MP, John Chibanga and former Malambo MP Imange Muzidya Phiri, who defected alongside former Chipata Mayor, Patrick Chirwa.

In a revelation to ZANIS in Chipata, the three said they decided to join the opposition PF because their former party was dead as it allegedly had no leadership.

The former Chipangali MP, Mr Phiri, said he needed to belong to a party that was thinking of taking the country forward and it was the reason why he decided to join PF.

Mr Phiri observed that he would be doing a disservice to the people of Chipangali constituency, the province and the country if he stuck to UNIP because he needed to be in a party that would help people come out of poverty.

He said he would have loved to join the ruling MMD but alleged that the party lacked leaders who were hard working.

And Mr Chibanga accused the MMD of having failed the people of Chama, especially in the improvement of the road network.

He said people were still crossing crocodile infested streams because of lack of bridges which government has allegedly failed to build.

Mr Chibanga also said the ruling MMD had no policy on agriculture, adding that, the reduction of bags of fertilizer in a packs meant that farmers would fail to produce as expected.

He said Zambian peasant farmers were living as commercial families because they helped a lot of people from their produce at both family and national level.

Mr Chibanga said it was pointless for the ruling party which is in government to start reducing the number of bags in a pack of fertilizer instead of increasing it considering the economic hardships farmers were going through.

And welcoming the defectors, Eastern Province PF chairperson, Solomon Mbuzi, said the PF, together with its sister party, United Party for National Development (UPND), was happy to receive them.

Mr Mbuzi said the four had made right choices because politics should not be about amassing wealth for personal glory like what was allegedly being seen in the ruling party but a service to the people.

[ZANIS]