United Party for National Development – UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda says the person who issued the statement alleging that Millers are Patriotic Front – PF does not belong to the party structures.
Mr Imenda disclosed that the claim that Mr Beene Hachoombwa is a member of the Presidential campaign team which is an adhoc committee of the UPND, adhoc in the sense that it is not in the constitution of the UPND its recognized but does not make part of the UPND in terms of structure, hence, having no right to speak on behalf of the party which has a system on which they follow when giving statements to the press or to the nation.
“We are the party in the government, we have a relationship with the millers and they are some steps that we are taking, and clearly you have heard us over and over talking about clear distinction between the party and the government, the distinction is very clear because on issues that are government related we have the Ministry of Information and Media which issue government statements and on matters that are party related, we have a system and a director of information, we have Cornelius Mweetwa whose the party spokesperson and issues party statements, not anyone who just comes from nowhere to just start issuing statements,” he said
Mr Imenda has since appealed to the media to ensure that they find out whether someone who just claims to be a party member speaks for the party or not.
“We have the Secretariat, we have the Secretary General whom you can consult to see it that the person being quoted is speaking for the party,” he said
He added that the alarming statement which is attributed to the UPND coming from a member of a Presidential campaign team does not deserve that headline at all.
In a video that has been circulating on various Facebook pages, United Party for National Development – UPND Presidential Campaign Team Member Beene Hachoombwa alleged that the millers are producing expensive mealie meal because they are Patriotic Front – PF cadres.
Mr Hachoombwa stated that the people in the opposition are trying to create an impression that the UPND has failed, adding that even mealie meal has become expensive.
He noted that when it comes to mealie meal, Agriculture Minister Reuben Mtolo gave a directive during a press briefing on mealie meal.
“We still have PF millers that want to sabotage the efforts of this government, that us what is there,they want to make it seem as though mealie meal has become very expensive so that the Zambians can turn against the UPND government,” he said
“I want to send a warning to these people that Zambia belongs to all of us and if you want to starve to punish us the UPND then you are not punishing us because you also have relatives, millers must pull up their stokens, what they are doing is not Zambian. The question is what is the real cause of this high cost of mealie meal? Because even us we don’t know,” he added
He said that should they now assume that they are taking advantage of the free market economy that the country is enjoying and that the government has no authority to authorise the price, that is wrong, and they should just do the correct thing.
“Now what is causing the prices of mealie meal to go up, because if they are saying its because of the late delivery of fertilizer then that should only affect this farming season and not the previous one,” he said
“We came in within one year, brought in investor as investments begin to come in the country and the International Monetary Fund – IMF are even here, what about that, these are the things that an opposition person will not come to tell you,” he said