By NORMA SIAME –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has said those not ready to welcome new members in the Patriotic Front (PF) are going against the building blocks on which the party was founded.

• PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu (left) introduces Patriotic Front candidate Anthony Kasandwe to the crowd when he addressed a public rally in Samfya yesterday to drum up support ahead of this Thursday’s by-election in Bangweulu Constituency.
Picture by EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATE HOUSE

Mr Lungu was speaking in Samfya yesterday as he joined the campaign frontline for this Thursday’s Bangweulu Constituency parliamentary by-election in which the PF is fielding Anthony Kasandwe.
He scoffed at individuals within the party that were tagging the PF as an entity that exclusively belonged to them and not open to new membership.
Citing late President Michael Sata’s political ethic of embracing everyone that wanted to join the party, President Lungu said the PF would not have grown had its founding leader believed in exclusivity.
He said there were many people that had said bad things about Mr Sata, who had since joined the PF and had served in senior positions in the Government.
“That was the type of leader Mr Sata was,” the President said.
He also addressed the issue of reports that he was promoting regionalism while on the campaign trail for another election in Eastern Province.
He said some sections of the public had chosen to misrepresent his ‘wako-ni-wako’ (what is yours is yours) statement and vilified him for it.
Referring to Mr Kasandwe, Mr Lungu said his statement was devoid of traces of regionalist connotations and had only been used to drive home the point that it would be easier to work with people that had stuck with the party for a long time as opposed to an opposition party candidate.
He asked the people of Kalasa Mukoso to always air their needs and grievances.
“An MP is the focal point person that will be the conduit to ensure your needs are known and met by Government. So I am urging you to vote for my young man here Anthony Kasandwe. If he fails in his duties let me know,” President Lungu said.
He told the crowd that had gathered for the rally that Mr Kasandwe could not afford to buy all their votes and they should instead vote for him based on the premise that he would provide quality leadership that would accommodate everyone.
He also took a swipe at individuals that thought success in politics and leadership was centred on material wealth and money. “Let me emphasise, I call such people fools and idiots,” Mr Lungu said to acquiescence from the crowd.
The growth of the party was supported not by money but the people who had organised themselves to ensure the party formed Government.
President Lungu had prior to the rally paid a courtesy call on Senior Chief Kalasa Mukoso and chiefs Mibenge and Kasoma Bangweulu.
Party and senior Government officials that had accompanied the president included State House Deputy Minister Mulenga Sata, PF Secretary General Davis Mwila, Luapula Province Minister Benson Kapaya and State House Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda.