By ROGERS KALERO
REPORTS purporting that some UPND officials are calling for the resignation of party president Hakainde Hichilema and Secretary-General Stephen Katuka are malicious and meant to divert attention from real issues, the UPND has said.
UPND Copperbelt provincial information and publicity secretary, Lawrence Mwanza, said such malicious reports must be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.
He said this was because they were only aimed at creating an impression that there was division in the opposition party.
Mr Mwanza said some enemies of the party were busy posting fake stories on social media to discredit Mr Hichilema and create an impression that there was an uprising against him.
In an interview in Kitwe yesterday, Mr Mwanza said loyal UPND members should ignore such postings and rally behind Mr Hichilema who he said was providing quality leadership.
“We know that some people have been hired to discredit our party president Hakainde Hichilema because he is a threat to the ruling party, but we will not succumb to the cheap social media propaganda. Our party members should ignore such postings purporting that officials have risen against Mr Hichilema and Mr Katuka.
“Yes, such postings are naked lies and not worth wasting time on. They are coming from the ruling Patriotic Front which is dead scared of the UPND,” Mr Mwanza said.
At the weekend, there were some stories on social media suggesting that UPND national chairman, Mutale Nalumango, had called for the resignation of Mr Hichilema following its crushing defeat in Mwansabombwe and Lukashya parliamentary by-elections.
But Mr Mwanza said senior party officials quoted in the stories had dismissed them as fake and meant to create divisions in the party.
“So the whole thing is a well calculated propaganda. It has no element of truth. Enemies of the party are busy trying to create an impression that there is division in the party,” he said.
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