Ex-minister Mushimba calls for return of PF to ‘rightful owners’ ahead of August elections (video)

Former Minister of Higher Education, Brian Mushimba, has called for the Patriotic Front (PF) to be “given back to its rightful owners” to ensure healthy political competition ahead of the August 13 general election.

Mushimba told Zambia Monitor that the current turmoil within the PF posed a threat to Zambia’s democracy, saying the party needed to resolve internal conflicts and present a united front.

He said the PF — which lost power five years ago — had been dogged by infighting, fuelling speculation about external interference and internal missteps.

Mushimba attributed the party’s troubles to a mix of weak internal democracy and what he described as external influence linked to the government and its allies.

“A former ruling party that just lost power five years ago should not be mad with the amount of confusion that we have seen,” he said.

“One can just speculate that much of this has to be orchestrated and there are people benefiting from this level of confusion,” he added.

Mushimba said some of the PF’s challenges were self-inflicted, citing the party’s failure to hold a convention after former President Edgar Lungu stepped down.

“You know some of it, you know there’s an invisible hand as people have said, and that invisible hand has to be very powerful to [create] this much confusion,” he said.

Despite the internal strife, Mushimba said he remained optimistic that the PF could stabilise and mount a credible challenge to the ruling party.

“In the end, we hope that for the sake of our democracy in this country, where healthy competition is expected in the political space, people have the chance to choose the best leaders among us,” he said.

He reiterated that restoring the PF to its “rightful owners” was critical for a credible election.

“PF can be given back to its rightful owners so that as we go into August elections, the competition will be healthy, stiff and people will have a real choice to choose from among the leaders that are going to put themselves forward,” he said.

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