UNPRINCIPLED POLITICIANS

BARELY 24 hours after boasting that he would ensure the Patriotic Front lost the Matero parliamentary seat, Mr Lloyd Kaziya now claims he was misquoted, that the story was a fabrication.

But Mr Kaziya has more or less confirmed himself why he has found himself at loggerheads with his colleagues in the ruling party. He is spineless and does not have any principles.

He cannot escape from the fact that Matero constituency under his watch has remained the least developed in Lusaka despite the resources at his disposal.

Even the roads in Matero East, where he resides have not been improved, to the chagrin of the residents.

When he spoke against his party, Mr Kaziya, the embattled member of Parliament for Matero under the PF was reacting to a statement from the ruling party insinuating that he would not be adopted to re-contest the seat.

With much bravado, he told our reporter: “They are saying I will not be adopted, and I am saying I am going to stand on another party’s ticket. Of course I will be standing in the 2021 general elections and I will make sure PF does not carry the day in Matero,” Mr Kaziya said.

Mr Kaziya said come what may, he would be on the ballot paper to defend his parliamentary seat on a different party.

He said it was a sheer waste of time for PF members to warn him that he would not be adopted for having failed to perform as he will be on the ballot paper to teach the ruling party a lesson.

On Monday, after realising the outrage that his statement caused in the party, with some calling for his expulsion, Mr Kaziya tried to cheat his way out of the fiasco.

He now wants to blame this newspaper for having fabricated the story carried in Monday’s edition.

“Kindly ignore the headlines in today’s Daily Nation. This is a total fabrication arising from my stand off with (Lusaka Province secretary) Kennedy Kamba’s statement. This is meant to bring my name into disrepute with my party,” he said.

In a statement attributed to him, Mr Kaziya said, “I Lloyd Mulenga Kaziya, elected member of parliament for Matero constituency hereby deny and dispel all such reports as false and mere works of my enemy and the party who are ill bent on primitive politics.”

But may be due to his intellectual technological deficiency, he did not realise that these modern gadgets can record a conversation – and he was recorded verbatim. Leaving him speechless.

Clearly, people like Mr Kaziya are surely not needed in PF who cannot defend its core values when the chips are down.

He has shown that he is ready to jump ship at the slightest storm instead of hanging in there and defending what the PF has achieved and its vision for the country.

It is not his perceived enemies practicing primitive politics but his conduct. If anything, what values would he add to any other party that would be unfortunate to adopt him?

Members of political parties must base their association on principles, believing in the common good of all, that they are members not for personal gain but to serve.

In Mr Kaziya’s case, if the PF does not adopt him to re-contest Matero, then he is ready for grabs by the highest bidder!

Moreover, having even served in cabinet where he also failed to tick, Mr Kaziya should thank the PF for giving him that opportunity and stop complaining.

Cheap politics indeed.