Lusaka Province United Party for National Development (UPND) chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta has distanced himself from pockets of anti-UPND secretary general Batuke Imenda protests by party youths.
Speaking at a media briefing at the UPND secretariat in Lusaka yesterday, held together with the party’s spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa. Mr Mwaliteta said that he has nothing to do with the calling of him to be the secretary general of the UPND
“I want to distance myself that I have nothing to do with calling for me to be the secretary general of the UPND.It’s the view of the people and it’s difficult for me to stop what people are saying. I’m not behind it! This political party called UPND is very united and if we have any perceived problems in the party, we should find ways of dealing with them,” Mr Mwaliteta said.
He cautioned UPND members who want him to take over as the secretary general against giving space to PF to feast on a perceived problem in the ruling party.
“There is no problem at all! So, colleagues in the party, stay calm and if there are any perceived problems, we have all the channels to use to lodge our complaints,” said Mwaliteta.
“Let us not disrespect office bearers in the party. My loyalty goes to President HH and the party office bearers. So, don’t put me in an awkward situation,” he added
Speaking at the same media briefing UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said that no one assumes office in the UPND through demonstrations but through established Constitutional channels.
Over the past few days, some UPND youths have been calling for the removal of Mr Imenda, alleging that he is a bad political administrator and calling for Mr Mwaliteta to replace him.
But Mr Mweetwa, who is also Southern Province minister, said everyone in the UPND is solidly united and behind the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema and his constitutional appointees.
“Ours is [to follow] the rule of law, even in our party. Our party constitution provides a clear route to ascendance to any particular position and the power to choose leaders of the UPND in the NMC and eventual substantive positions lies at the doorsteps of our party officials who congregate during intra-party gatherings….” Mr Mweetwa said.
“We have never had, in the history of the UPND, leadership that has come through cohesion. We have never had leadership that has come through demonstrations.”
He stressed that in the UPND, party leaders assume office through democratic intra-party elections.
“But we do appreciate that demonstrations are part and parcel of a thriving democracy, especially when it is intra-party. We as a party in government have an obligation to mirror the state of our democracy and therefore, we shall not react violently when some of our members begin to hold certain views and opinions and ask the party leadership to take certain decisions,” Mr Mweetwa said.
“In a democracy, the right to expression and speech is guaranteed not just for ordinary citizens but also those belonging to a particular political party such as the UPND.”
He added that when one, however, belongs to the UPND, “you must be mindful that whereas those rights are enjoyable and constitutionally guaranteed, we do have our own constitution that prescribes a clear roadmap through which to convey views or grievances that a particular person or group of persons may entertain at a particular time.”
“Using vulgar, demeaning and derogatory language is not part and parcel of UPND politics. So, we do hope that any member of the party with certain views and grievances should realise that the secretariat is open to receive such grievances,” Mr Mweetwa said.
“The fact that we are in government does not mean that we should allow infiltration for a few indisciplined elements to take centre stage on our how we manage our party.”
He noted that the UPND leadership values the sacrifices of many people, which sacrifices, among other reasons, helped the party to go into government.
“We suffered primarily not for ourselves but for the nation and its future. Anyone with grievances is free to engage the leadership at any level unlike being antagonistic and taking to demonstrations,” said Mweetwa.
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