DR CHITALU CHILUFYA OPENLY DENIES DEFECTING FROM PF OR JOINING UPND

I Have Not Defected to the UPND!-Dr. Chitalu Chilufya

The notion that an opposition MP cannot engage with the President in the line of duty is incorrect. My appeal to ALL is to reset our politics and recalibrate our collective agenda to service delivery and poverty eradication.

Issued By: Dr. Chitalu Chilufya.

Lusaka, October 24 - On 22nd October, 2024, I was privileged to be invited to the working presidential visit to Mazabuka. As a result of my being part of this presidential entourage, social media has been awash with maliciously misleading articles coldly calculated at tarring my persona in the collective public conscience of Zambians.

Ordinarily, I do not respond to malice, but I'm compelled to issue an official statement to set the record straight and put closure to the matter at hand. For the avoidance of any doubt, those spreading falsehoods must get this right: I HAVE NOT DEFECTED FROM PF TO UPND. This is anchored on my belief that a credible opposition is crucially fundamental to any functional democracy.

I am the bonafide elected Member of Parliament for Mansa Central, under the Patriotic Front party ticket. I intend to serve out my current term in this regard to the best of my ability and consciously cognisant of the my absolute loyalty to people of Mansa for the privilege they gave me to serve them.

Further, I am privileged to be the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Parastatal Bodies. I swore oath of allegiance to the Republican President, and the constitution of Zambia to serve the people of Zambia, in general, and the Mansa central in particular. I will continue to work with Government to serve the people by providing effective checks and balances, as we collectively pursue sustainable development, peace and unity.

It is in this regard that I accepted an invitation to accompany the Republican President, in the stated portfolios, to commemorate the Jubilee Celebrations for one of the country's most thriving local Zambian companies, the Nakambala Sugar Estate, at which many activities were launched, inter alia, the expanded outgrower scheme for sugarcane, to enhance local participation in the growth of the Zambian economy.

For all intents and purporses, this is the kind of investment we all must support because it does not only fulfil our collective aspirations of sustainable development, but also creates both corporate and individual wealth we all desire. We can only succeed as the nation if we create common wealth. We can only share wealth and not poverty, not acrimony but progressive human fellowship across all facets of development.

Truth be told, the trip was instructive in many different ways and revealed valuable benchmarking innovations the company is embarking on to expand production, while embracing the needs of the community. The trip further served as an opportunity to network with colleagues in the Executive to lobby for specific constituency programs and share ideas on matters of national development. I must, therefore, appreciate the President for the invitation to be part of his entourage on this important working visit.

Further, I was invited to a community engagement where the President interacted with the local people and was privileged to address the community. I hereby attach my verbatim speech for ALL to see and judge...

"My due respect to His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zambia. As we celebrate our 60th year of independence, it is important that we reaffirm our commitment to our oneness as a unitary state, and that's the reason I'm pleased to be part of the presidential entourage, to reaffirm that we are one people, and that we are one nation. Tuli bantu omwe (we are one people)! Atujatane, tubeleke antoomwe tulete lusumpunko mu chisi (let’s work together to develop Zambia). Thank you very much Mr. President for this opportunity to unite all of us and to show that we are one people! "

There is no doubt in my mind this was the right and proper thing for me to do to support the President in supporting the economic developmental agenda. Let us all pursue, not a narrow, but a broad based national agenda that speaks to the best possible interests of our people. In pursuit of this agenda, my conscious is crystal-clear. I will always pursue efforts that deliver a developmental state that works for all. Let us abandon the machine-politics designed to split rather than unite our people. Let us reject all the senseless and dangerous propagandists who are stealthly embedded in the belly of our body-politic.

At 60, we can be more proud. A Diamond Nation founded on the enduring spirit of One Zambia, One Nation, cannot be narrowed to myopic black-and-white prism of them and us. There is rendezvous of opportunity in the middle ground available for all us as a collective.

#zambiannews #trending #lusakazambia