THE opposition MMD and UPND should stop blaming the Patriotic Front (PF) for their self-inflicted political problems, PF director for media and publicity Chanda Mfula has said.

Mr Mfula said it was not the responsibility of the ruling PF to organise and manage opposition parties.

The opposition MMD had of late accused the PF of causing confusion which has led to the resignation of some members of Parliament and provincial leaders.

"Therefore, the two parties should realise that they are political competitors to the PF despite the fact that they have so far offered very poor competition," Mr Mfula said.

Mr Mfula attributed the poor performance of the two opposition parties to having concentrated on copying strategies and tactics that the PF had employed during the time it was in the opposition.

Mr Mfula said the MMD and UPND had failed to appreciate changes in the politics obtaining in the country.

"The MMD and the UPND have chosen to be market followers by copying what the market leader PF is doing. The PF wishes to assure that multiparty democracy in the country does not depend on the existence of the MMD and UPND," he said.

He said though it was highly likely that the two political parties would go into oblivion, the country would not revert to a one-party system because there were other political parties that would continue playing a role in the multiparty political set up of the country.

He said the ruling party had concentrated on improving service delivery, inclusive national development and strengthening the democratic governance of the country.

"Therefore, the spate of by-elections in the country is the opposition's own making due to internal leadership failure and cannot be blamed on the PF," he said.