UPND won’t allow GBM take over – clergy

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 09:08:32 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

THE UPND will most likely not allow party vice president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to take over leadership from Hakainde Hichilema because they do not want leadership of the party to be held by someone from outside Southern Province, Bishops Council of Zambia (BCZ) secretary general Able Kaela has observed.

Rev. Kaela alleged that the UPND already held ethnicity in high esteem and that they would not allow anyone who was not from Southern province to take over the party.

He said in an interview with the Daily Nation that the UPND vice president was lying to himself if he was eying the party presidency.

Rev. Kaela pointed out that all the people who had been at the helm of the UPND had been people from Southern province and that the tendency was already rooted in them.

He reiterated that other members of the UPND such as Mazabuka Central constituency Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo and his Monze constituency counterpart Jack Mwiimbu would not easily allow Mr Mwamba to take over the party.

Rev. Kaela explained that it was already bad enough that Mr Hichilema had let Mr Mwamba to become his vice president but that other members of the party would not let him go further than that.

“GBM is lying to himself if he thinks he can take over the leadership of the UPND, they will not let that happen. It is only someone from Southern province who can take over the party. Probably Garry Nkombo and Jack Mwiimbu are already eying the seat,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rev. Kaela said that the UPND leader Hichilema only has himself to blame for the charges that had been labelled against him.

He said that the police officers were just doing their job by arresting and charging Mr Hichilema and that people should not politicise the matter.

Rev. Kaela explained that Mr Hichilema’s behaviour after the 2016 general elections had been filled with treasonous acts.

He warned before the arrest of Mr Hichilema last Wednesday that the UPND leader was digging his own grave with his continued conduct of undermining the presidency.