Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:40:13 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
GARRY Nkombo narrowly escaped the UPND axe during the adoption process for the 2016 elections because he has always been accused of holding presidential ambitions and taking over from Hakainde Hichilema, Edwin Lifwekelo has revealed.
Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr. Lifwekelo said the fear factor engineered by safe-guarding personally appointed positions among senior members of the UPND had eroded objectivity in the party as Mr. Hichilema himself decided the course of action the party took on a number of decisions to consolidate his stay at the helm of the party.
He said Mr. Nkombo had always been defending himself through the media over his alleged presidential ambitions, adding that the 2016 elections would have been a turning point as manoeuvres to sideline him from the adoption process were high because he was seen as a threat to Mr. Hichilema.
“There was a crusade to sideline all those who are seen to be a threat to Mr. Hichilema and Nkombo was one of them. You will recall that he has been clearing his name from having political ambitions because by experience, he understands politics better than Mr. Hichilema himself and so, they wanted him to be a casualty in 2016.
“The year 2016 also saw serious corruption in the adoption process in the UPND where huge sums of money exchanged hands between prospective candidates and those who were at the centre of the process and the tumbling of big guns who had contributed so much to the party had nothing to do with them being rejected by the grassroots but because they were viewed as a threat to the presidency and Mr. Nkombo is one of those who survived the chop by a whisker,” Mr. Lifwekelo claimed.
He said the quality of former UPND MPs who were left out of the election race last year could not be compared to the new crop the party had as most of them were not picked on merit.
“There was no merit in the whole adoption process. Compare former MPs like Mr. Muntanga and Mr. Hamududu and consider those who replaced them and you will see a huge difference.
Those were seasoned parliamentarians who articulated issues from an informed position because they understood their roles as parliamentarians,
“They were left out not because they were not popular but because they were a threat and whoever seemed to challenge the decisions of the party no matter how wrong , were seen as enemies.’’
Mr Lifwekelo said he was summoned by Mr. Hichilema for simply saying there was need for a convention in the party ‘‘where he strongly warned me not to be swayed by people bent to bring confusion in the party’’.
“I wanted to be elected so that my allegiance could not be to an individual but to the party. I was not the only one to be victimized because Edward Mumbi, Canisius Banda and many others who you may not know have found themselves in a similar predicament,” he said.
He maintained that without a convention, the UPND was plotting its downfall as it would lose the support of its followers who were getting fed up with its perpetual losses in elections.
