Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has asked that there be no gun salutes to mark her birthday on Tuesday. This is an act of decency and decorum given the tens of thousands of lives claimed by the coronavirus. A couple of millions plus are currently battling the virus with many more across the globe in lockdown to secure their lives and the lives of others.
The COVID-19 has devastated several economies with millions of people expected to lose jobs. It is a somber moment for families given the high level of uncertainty about when this epidemic will end.
Given this huge challenge that nations are facing, it is highly unfortunate the ruling party, the Patriotic Front, has seen this epidemic as a perfect platform to brand itself. There is information that hundreds of thousands of PF branded masks are under distribution. A truck in Kalulushi bearing a fight against COVID-19 is also branded PF; ECL 2021. What this all means is that:
The PF is there to protect only its cadres and followers from the coronavirus. The party is fully aware about the polarization of this country politically and therefore, the exercise of wisdom should be the limiting factor in how far we can go in the pursuit of self interest.
The party is intuitively saying to the nation, ‘Coronavirus, we are indebted to you. Without you, we would not have had an opportunity to amplify our brand among the Zambian people. If you can, stay here until 2021 because we have already spent so much money on branded materials. If you were going to disappear tomorrow, what do we do with all our investment in branding based on your ravaging presence?’
I implore the PF leadership to be highly sensitive to the feelings of the nation. Let’s imagine it was one of the opposition political parties that leveraged this unfortunate battle we are facing. Chiefs and other PF aligned political parties would be lined up before our own cameras, condemning them day and night.
The PF should demonstrate great restraint and good leadership on this COVID-19 epidemic. It is no child’s play. President Edgar Lungu has declared this fight as ‘war’. In a war of this magnitude, we need a United front with only the national flag being positioned in all materials.
I, therefore, implore the party leadership to withdraw all such party branded materials. If we have that much money, let us print masks that bear the National flag so that every Zambian, irrespective of political affiliation, can access them and be saved.
By an Anonymous contributor
PF cadres think they are campaigning for Corona virus to be elected as president!
Are these chitenje pf branded masks even safe? Do they even meet ZABS standards, has ZABS tested them to be used by consumers? Is this party not flaunting ZABS standards laws? One scientist said if you hold your mask against light and light passes through then its not worth putting on, how true is this notion? Ba ZABS before any product is put on the Zambian market I thought its your duty to approve, not so?
These are not human beings just by they behavior you can tell .pf what have you achieved apart from promoting tribalism, violence and criminalities?
I see no problem if they are using party funds. They can do that and it does not affect my life and shouldn’t yours.
P.F Fikopo,
Uwaikatako wapya!!
That is some ugly woman on that PF campaign poster.
PF are so ugly…. I always wonder why and how they undress those ones.
Its dull to say that its okay to put stickers of a political party as we fight covid 19 but as usual we are not surprised ecause that what PF has to offer zambian. Conducting activities with lebals of PF will lead to other parties beginning to campaign/mobilizing during this period. Seriously, do you have to be a rocket scientist to ubderstand that?
Leave them, i so much like this, there was once a famous “don’t kubeba” , now there is a “self de-campaign”. If u know, u know. Tiye nayo 2021. Koma wina azamuziba yesu.
This is the only nation on the earth where a ruling party is doing this!
vipuba. PF desperation. I can rest assure you that PF will not hand over power when Zambians will kick them out next year. But the Zambian people must prepare another plan to compel them to hand over power when they lose next.
The PF are so obsessed with political superiority that they can find an opportunity to campaign in the midst of this Covid-19 Pandemic. Surely it’s madness to brand vehicles with Covid-19 messages and in the advert you even inscribe”Covid-19/ ECL 2021. By implication this covid is synonymous with…! People are hurting now with what this disease has brought to their lives.
I do not see any problem with that. A face mask is a face mask and unless they are distributing them only to their members while denying others. People that are putting them on have a choice.
Do your pf face masks even meet ZABS standards? Who approved them to be used by consumers? Why do you people like flaunting laws?
i learnt English language just b4 independence. did i read ” we will fight Covid 19 together with ECL 2021″. Meaning we are fighting two things.
#EssentialWorker
We keep serving Mother Zambia. Remember to maintain social distance, sanitize, and wear a mask especially when in a public place. I repeat
Wait, she will disappear as C19 c
BRAND YOUR VEHICLES /MASKS / DUST BINS e.t.c. WITH GAS CYLINDERS AS WELL
Where is our Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS)? Do these masks meet the minimum standard or we should sue PF and ZABS for endangering the public? Where is Consumer Protection Authority and Human Rights Commission when PF is engaged in antitrust acts and acts of discrimination? Where is the Auditor General and ACC when there is no transparency in the manner donated funds are being utilized without updates alongside the statistics we are bored with?
When I come across these masks, I’ll give them to my d0gs to wear!
Walasa boyi, I remember when sanitizers became first line weapon against covid, how someone was busy singing about how people should use only sanitizers that have been approved by ZABS.
People of Zambia please wake up,Wise H.E.President for 2021 HH donated masks, hygiene soaps and sanitizer to the people of Zambia without putting campaign knowing how other people can’t afford to buy,why pfools decided to make their own masks? Instead of pf members also to donate like HH
i feel anyone donating can show theirs and who donated in those trade marks It shows their concern and support towards the fight for the epidemic what should concern us is the quality of those face masks like some one has said about ZABS From what i have read on the standards these masks must might They must have 3 layers of protection ,the comfort layer,the melt-blown Filter Cloth and then lastly the outer Non Woven Fabric They must be capable of fitting all faces and filter out particles for most of the times 90%.For those masks with adjustable wire nose adds the safety,to breathable and some hypoallergenic ,easy for breathing .The elastic loops gives…
comfort to the wear and doesn’t pressure the ears
The most important thing is how effective they are in protecting the wear from the 0.06 microns to .14 microns corona virus Some of our masks do not meet this and must meet and support effectively the need to wear masks as per presidential directive and support the local tailoring industry also
If they are servin lives,its ok. Let ba hh should also continual donatin yebo soap, he is also serving live through is cheap donations
It’s clear that the PF has run out of ideas, the eminent loss of power has caused them to behave like people out of their minds. Branded PF hearses with the names of aspiring candidates are now roaming townships on the Copperbelt looking for who to ferry to the cemetery and bury. They are now merchants of death, PF opposed Sylvia Masebo’s Beijing jeep not long ago. Life moves in circles!
They must be N-95 mask respirators not simply any cloth for those individuals and personnel at the highest risks especially for healthy personnel managing also .Any solutions must at-least also be able to be washed and sanitized but possible also to be disposed safely and not reused after some necessary outing or use
“If we have that much money, let us print masks that bear the National flag so that every Zambian, irrespective of political affiliation, can access them and be saved.
By an Anonymous contributor”-LT
We stand with you as freedom-loving people.
“The president of Zambia plans to issue an official complaint to the United States over remarks its ambassador made after a homosexual couple were jailed for 15 years in the African country. The U.S. ambassador to Zambia, Daniel Foote, said in a statement he was “personally horrified” to read about the sentencing of Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba last week.”-www.thedailybeast.com
Current PF administration they motto PF first the Republic second.
For you to go anonymous is justified at the same time its unsettling because the current…
@Chisebwe first post.
For you to go anonymous is justified at the same time its unsettling because the current PF administration is unpredictable.
@agony kikikikikikiki! Yeah we will fight Corona virus. At the same time we’ll fight Lungu. Vizungu ivi
And why does this story start with some colonial queen? Is it because the editor is brainwashed and wants to brainwash us too?
You can’t put toilet paper back on the paper role after using it. If opposition parties don’t respond in kind PF will claim during elections campaigns that during Corona only the PF cared for the people by dumping their regalia and using it to make face masks hence saving lives whilst the opposition did nothing but condemn the noble move PF did. Wake slumbering opposition.
This really shows how low these degenerates can be…not even worth commenting on…how can a normal person think this be would be a good idea. And what is their president saying or doing. This has really done it for me guys. The PF is garbage the worst thing to ever happen to Zambia I would rather have the UNIP administration 100,000 times than this trash…. low life scam bag thieves.
That picture on the truck is so disgusting, did they obtain the permission of our beloved President Hus Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu to use his name? Did they obtain the permission of the PF founding father Michael Chilufya Sata to abuse his party in a national non partisan fight?
As for the PF branded masks, someone asks whether they have been tested and approved as safe effective by the medical and regulatory authorities. Come on guys, leadership is required here, where is it?
And dont forget that the masks are made by PF cadre women and funded by the Presidential Empowerment Initiative Fund which I questioned last week whether it is tax payers funds and whether there is any accountability. If it is tax payers why not use the money to buy PPE for the poor nurses, licentiates and…
…
And dont forget that the masks are made by PF cadre women and funded by the Presidential Empowerment Initiative Fund which I questioned last week whether it is tax payers funds and whether there is any accountability. If it is tax payers why not use the money to buy PPE for the poor nurses, licentiates and doctors who are right now exposed to the Covid-19? Come on guys, this is blatant lawlessness, even much worse than what IBA did to Prime tv.
Leadership please where are you?
I agree with you ‘Patriotic Front’, there is no problem if they are using party funds. We live in a democracy that has plural politics, if they are branded PF and not harming anyone’s dignity against the fight, there is no problem. The branding is even advantageous because it show political identification, and guess what, we are actually nearing the 2021 elections so its a win-win.
“The PF is there to protect only its cadres and followers from the coronavirus” I totally disagree with this statement, the branding shows identification in a country with many political parties so as PF moves to fight the Covid-19 scourge, its doing it for the entire nation, why not? PF is the government of the day so it actually targets all Zambians not only the cadres and followers, that is why we remain one Zambia, one nation.
Ba PF these are the last kicks of a dying horse, or in your case rat.
The election year is coming near, the use of PF masks is advantageous for the party that is still in government and is taking the noble cause as it should for the safety and betterment of Zambia. Come August 2021, PF is still the government of the day!