Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:10:12 +0000
…as party finds itself in a leadership crisis
By AARON CHIYANZO
UPND is now bankrupt of leadership at all levels of the party and has become totally irrelevant to the political dispensation of Zambia, says former UPND deputy spokesperson Edwin Lifwekelo.
Mr Lifwekelo said that the UPND was currently in a leadership crisis but that it was not as a result of UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s incarceration.
He reiterated that the current UPND leadership was totally different from the leadership which was there when the party was formed.
Mr Lifwekelo said in an interview with the Daily Nation that the UPND was now bankrupt of leadership and that it had become irrelevant to the political dispensation in the country.
He explained that the current UPND leadership did not care about the well-being of the people.
Mr Lifwekelo pointed out that the UPND under founding leader Anderson Mazoka was more concerned about the nation being united and economically stable.“UPND under Mr Mazoka used to provide a parallel budget just to compare with what Government will come up with. They were more concerned about the national well-being at all cost,” he said.
Mr Lifwekelo said that the UPND had lost focus and that most decisions they were making were misguided.
He wondered how a leader would direct members of Parliament not to lobby for development in their constituencies on the pretext that praise would be accorded to the ruling party.
Mr Lifwekelo pointed out that directing parliamentarians to be ineffective was a sign of desperation for power at the expense of the ordinary Zambians.
He said that MPs, whether in the opposition were part of the government system with regards to legislature being among the three arms of Government.
Mr Lifwekelo charged that it was, therefore, absurd for opposition MPs to heed to the directive not to recognise the President as doing so was tantamount to not recognising themselves.
“The legislature is party of Government as the third arm of the government structure. So, all MPs are part of government that’s why they get a salary,” he said.
