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Sata is more popular than Hichilema - PF

Sata is more popular than Hichilema - PF
By George Chellah
Tue 28 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT

PF national youth secretary Eric Chanda yesterday said the UPND’s claim for the Pact presidency beats common sense because Michael Sata is more popular than Hakainde Hichilema.

Reacting to UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa’s statement that the popularity of PF was fast eroding and that the party was only riding on past glory, Chanda said the Pact would only work if UPND stopped dreaming and woke up to reality. He said going by the UPND official’s recent arguments, it was now clear that their claim was purely based on selfishness.

“It’s very disappointing that the UPND has continued attacking PF with flimsy claims that PF has lost popularity and that we are riding on past glory. I stand to doubt UPND’s intellectualism if people like Cornelius Mweetwa who has even been to the university can reason like that. I think his political and statistical reasoning does not show his intellect,” Chanda said.

“And if what is written in the Times of Zambia is a thought of the UPND leadership, then I fear for them because they are bound to crash as a party. The fact is UPND’s claim for the Pact presidency beats common sense. Their argument does not make sense at all and it lacks sincerity. It’s purely propelled by selfishness. What facts does Mweetwa have to claim that PF has lost popularity? Who told him that we are riding on past glory?”

Chanda urged the UPND not to base their argument on presumptions.

“Mweetwa is on record as having said that Zambians promised HH votes in 2011. But what guarantee does he have that his president can win in 2011? This is where the difference is between UPND and PF. Whilst we are arguing with facts on the table, Mweetwa is coming up with presumptions, forgetting that politics is about numbers,” Chanda said.

“UPND’s achievement has never been growing. Quite true, in 2001 the late Anderson Mazoka did very well, in 2006 the UPND went into an alliance with UNIP and FDD. UPND had to lead that alliance based on the existing figures at that time, and these were statistics depicting Mr. Mazoka’s performance in 2001.

Madam Edith Nawakwi, who was more experienced both in politics and public life, had to pave way for HH who was only a few months old in mainstream politics simply because the existing figures then favoured HH and the UPND in general. However, with the backing of all these political parties, HH lost.”

Chanda said UPND could never claim that Hichilema’s performance in 2008 improved because he was trailing in a distant third position against President Rupiah Banda and Sata.

“Mweetwa should realise that it took Rupiah Banda to start searching for 35,000 votes to cross the line and be declared winner. Can Mweetwa explain to us with figures where his president was when all this was happening? Now, when you look at the 2008 statistics, who is more popular between Mr Sata and HH? Surely, is that an argument that should even arise?

I don’t believe so; one can only bring up that argument if they don’t mean well. How do you expect Mr Sata to let HH who was trailing with approximately 300,000 votes or so to lead the Pact?” Chanda asked.

“As PF youths, we are convinced that the Zambian people are carefully watching and should this Pact fail to hold, the people will surely judge which side between UPND and PF was being excessively unreasonable. We don’t understand why UPND have resolved to fight Mr Sata.

This is why we are saying that the UPND are up to no good, they want to destroy PF and destroy president Sata. They are no longer interested in the Pact. That’s why they are bringing up this unnecessary debate about popularity. But whether they antagonise Mr Sata or not, the fact is Mr Sata is the most suitable man to lead the Pact.

“In any case, why should the UPND, as claimed by Mweetwa that we are losing popularity, ask to enter into a pact with an organisation that is losing popularity? This is why my vice-president Dr Guy Scott told them that they want to build their image at PF’s expense.

It’s very disappointing to note that even when the PF has extended an olive branch for round table talks, they continue going to the media with the usual lies about our popularity. I trust the reasoning of the Zambian people, and I am fully convinced that they shall surely judge who is more popular between Mr Sata and HH.”

On Monday, Mweetwa was quoted by the Times of Zambia as having said that the PF was thriving on past glory. He said PF lacked facts on whether it had remained as strong as it was during the 2006 presidential elections.

Mweetwa was also quoted as claiming that UPND’s popularity reached the highest level and won 49 parliamentary seats during the 2001 elections, which the PF might never reach in their time.

He said the PF had continued to cheat people that they were the most popular opposition party when the highest they had garnered was 43 members of parliament.

Labels: ERIC CHANDA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MICHAEL SATA, PF, PF-UPND, UPND

posted by MrK @ 12:39 PM