By ROGERS KALERO
THE opposition UPND has enough problems to concentrate on than questioning the credibility of the Patriotic Front (PF) general conference, which was conducted according to the party constitution, the PF has said.
Elaston Chipili, one of the unsuccessful aspiring applicant for a position in the central committee, said It was ridiculous for the UPND officials to question how the PF general conference was conducted when their own conference was a sham and ignited division within the opposition party.
He was reacting to UPND spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, who last week issued a 48-hour ultimatum to PF to hold an elective conference where people should be elected through the ballot.
But Mr Chipili said Mr Mweetwa should instead explain how his party got its manifesto which looked similar to the Jamaican document and also challenged him to state whether his leader Hakainde Hichilema was elected via a ballot during the UPND national assembly.
He was speaking in Kitwe in an interview yesterday.
He said the UPND should not be arrogant and brush off allegations regarding the manifesto, but should tell the nation what happened.
“Instead of wasting time talking about the Pf general conference, the UPND and its leadership should explain what coincidence is it that their manifesto is similar to that of the Jamaican manifesto.
“They should convince the Zambians instead of being arrogant over the matter. UPND should know that arrogance and being bitter will not take them anywhere. Our general conference was properly done and it is not like the way the UPND conference was done which has left wounds on man officials,” Mr Chipili said.
Mr Chipili said failure to explain properly about the manifesto people would end up believing that the opposition party had plagiarised manifesto from Jamaica.
He said if a political party aspiring to form government can fail to write its own manifesto, then it has no capacity to provide quality leadership if given chance to serve Zambians.
Mr Chipili said the UPND must also come out clear on a number of issues in which its leadership had been implicated.
He said, him and most of the Pf members who were not successful to become members of the central committee, we still loyal to President Edgar Lungu and the ruling party.
Mr Chipili said during the campaign for August elections, he wouldbgo flat out to campaign for President Lungu and the PF.
“There us no need for upnd to be talking about the Pf general conference because for us, the Pf members who wanted to be members of the central committee, we have our that issue behind us and we are solidly behind President Lungu. He is our presidential candidate for the August elections “ he said
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