Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:55:41 +0000
By JACKSON MAPAPAYI and SANDRA MACHIMA
THE UPND will not allow any member to challenge its leader, Hakainde Hichilema for the presidency during their national convention, party national chairperson Mutale Nalumango has declared.
Ms Nalumango said this at the weekend’s card renewal exercise in Solwezi.
She maintained that the party will not give chance to anyone to challenge their leader.
“Our sole candidate for 2021 is HH and that is why we are not going to allow anyone to challenge him during the convention,” Ms Nalumango said.
And the UPND reshuffles effected last week and its scheduled congress have been described as a sham which offered nothing new because it still has the same leadership.
Zambia Republican Party leader Wright Musoma has charged that the UPND’s agenda was well known to the Zambian people and that they wanted to get power by any means that frustrated the country, noting the reshuffles were merely to blindfold the people to think that the party had changed.
He said not every Zambian could be deceived by such a move and that as long as its leader, Mr Hichilema remained, the party should forget about being in power. Mr Musoma said the reason that the party had never accepted its wrongs was the reason why the people of Zambia had lost hope, noting that at this moment of time, no party could unseat the ruling PF.
“The trouble with the UPND leadership is that it is too pompous and think all is well with them based on satisfying their agenda best known to themselves.
And these reshuffles are a rubber stamp because some of the members are a threat to HH and no Zambian can be deceived,” Mr Musoma said.
Mr Musoma charged that the UPND had already decampaigned itself and that the Zambian people had lost hope, looking at the type of the leadership it was portraying publicly.
“There is nothing new that can be expected from the UPND, truth be told and they should not forget that the people are watching, and the party’s behaviour will remain the same,” he said.
Mr Musoma reiterated that those vying for senior positions should remain humble and leave the rest to God, saying whether the UPND liked it or not, they should respect the presidency as the starting point, which was a cause of conflict in Zambia.
