THE PF says President Edgar Lungu deserves “all the respect” because he was duly elected by Zambians and was blessed by God to hold the office of President.

On New Year’s day, The Mast quoted Chirundu UPND member of parliament Douglas Syakalima saying the devil and not God made Edgar Lungu President.

In a press statement yesterday, PF deputy media director Antonio Mwanza stated that the ruling party condemned in the strongest terms possible the said statement by Syakalima and called upon “all well thinking Zambians to condemn the politics of hate, bitterness and tribal hegemony which the UPND has become synonymous with.”

“[On] 1st January, 2019 the UPND, through Mr Douglas Syakalima, issued a statement in The Mast Newspapers saying that President Edgar Lungu is from the devil and not from God. We challenge Mr Hichilema to distance himself from this vile statement and ask his lieutenant to retract his despicable utterances,” Mwanza stated.

He stated that Syakalima’s statement was not only offensive but an insult to Zambians who elected Lungu as a Republican President.

Mwanza quoted Romans 13 verse 1 that says; “All authority comes from God and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.”

“That is what the Bible says. Hence to throw blasphemous tantrums at God out of frustration and bitterness for one’s own political impotence is infantile and a lack of wisdom,” Mwanza stated and ‘reminded’ the UPND membership that it might detest President Lungu as a person but it ought to learn to respect the Office of the President.

“President Edgar Lungu was duly elected by the people of Zambia and was blessed by God to hold the office of President and deserves all the respect as Head of State, leader of government and commander-in-chief of all armed forces. Moreover, he is a human being; a father, a grandfather, an uncle and a brother.”

Mwanza added that it was “extremely disheartening” that in 2019 the country could still have political parties whose only motivation for survival was hatred, bitterness and tribal hegemony.

“Politics of lies, slander and name-calling must be left in the dustbin of yester years and should not be resurrected in 2019,” he stated.

“The purpose of opposition politics is to give credible checks and balances and provide alternative policies to the government.”

Mwanza stated that opposition political parties were governments in waiting and that because of that, they needed to be conducting themselves in a sober, mature and progressive manner devoid of hatred, bitterness, malice and propaganda.

“UPND must realise that their failure to practice mature politics, their failure to provide credible checks and balances, their failure to explain their own manifesto is partly the reason why the people of Zambia have resoundingly and consistently rejected them for 20 years running,” Mwanza stated. “You cannot run a political party purely on regionalism, hatred, bitterness and tribal hegemony and somehow expect to win the hearts and minds of the masses or win the popular vote.”

Mwanza stated further that politicians needed to learn to be disagreeable, oppose the government and yet make their point without “using offensive and insulting language.”

“There is absolutely no need and no place in our thriving democracy for insults, hatred, bitterness and malice. Let us learn to live in harmony with each other,” stated Mwanza.