PF infighting threatens August victory-Banda
By Mast Reporter
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) Kapoche Constituency Women’s Chairperson Ekelesi Banda has warned that the former ruling party risks losing the August 13 general elections if internal divisions persist.
Speaking to The Mast yesterday, Banda said leadership and ownership disputes within the PF were too deep to resolve in time to guarantee electoral success against the United Party for National Development (UPND).
“I just want to urge senior party officials to sort out their differences if the party is to defeat UPND. Currently, there is no hope that the PF can defeat the UPND in August. We are too divided as leaders,” she said.
Banda said the UPND government had failed the people of Zambia terribly, but that conduct of the PF leaders was more injurious to the nation, which had hope in the former ruling party.
“The fact is that it will be difficult to challenge the UPND as long as the confusion in management is still hot. UPND has confused us; UPND has failed to keep the promises it gave the people in 2021. It told us that fertiliser will be at K200, but up to date, it is still high. We have tried to join cooperatives, but things are not moving as theft has also invaded cooperatives,” she said.
Banda pleaded with the party leadership to put their differences aside and work towards unifying the opposition to defeat UPND.
” Here on the ground, it’s very easy for people to defeat UPND, but they need a candidate. We need to have a candidate whom we can introduce to the people because, as things stand, there is so much confusion. People want to vote out UPND, but they need a key in the form of a human being whom they can vote for to remove the uncaring UPND government,” she said.
Banda said Zambians were decided on the way forward and called on opposition leaders such as the Socialist Party and its People’s Pact 2026 presidential candidate Dr Fred M’membe to visit the grassroots as an alternative to root out the UPND.
