THIEVES RULED US FOR 10 YEARS
…UPND wants 50 years but we need discipline – Katuka
By Bright Tembo in Kaputa
UPND national chairperson Stephen Katuka says if the party will only rule for five years, it will be members to blame.
Addressing party officials in Kaputa district of Northern Province on Saturday, Katuka said if only members united and worked together, UPND could rule for 50 years.
“We want to institutionalise the party and once that is done, we will have the party headquarters. We have the land already to build that and this will see each province have a permanent office of the party. We want this party to rule even for 50 years,” he said. “We don’t want to just rule for five years and you can’t allow that to happen. If thieves ruled us for 10 years, then us five years, that can’t happen. We want 50 years but if we are to rule for 50 years, we need to have discipline and unity in the party. If we start the infighting the party won’t be strong and grow. We need to love each other and work together.”
Katuka said if the UPND failed to rule for 50 years then it would be the members to blame.
He asked them to welcome others the same way they welcomed former Kasama Central PF member of parliament Kelvin Sampa last week.
“If we only rule for five years it will be ourselves to blame and I know that’s what you don’t want. Back then we were scared of chasing you away from the party because we wanted your votes. But this time around if you bring infighting, we are going to chase you. We welcomed Kelvin Sampa from PF and more are coming. Even you here those that were fighting you, don’t hold it in your heart that they were beating you, no. That is the past and vengeance is for God not UPND,” he said. “We want the same person who was beating you, the same person that was teargassing you; they are all people and we want them. They are voters as we don’t want to struggle in 2026. Bring them close and work together. They made mistakes and we can’t repeat them because two wrongs can’t make a right. This time around we got our freedom and we don’t want violence. The violence we said no in PF is the same violence we are saying no in UPND. I don’t want to hear that you have started doing what PF was doing. We want to show the people that we are more intelligent than the PF.”
Katuka stressed importance of discipline saying no organisation can stand without a disciplined membership.
“If you are not disciplined, we have the provision to warn, suspend for three months and even chase you from the party. But we don’t want to do that because we have come a long way. We want us to work together so that we rule for 50 years,” said Katuka. “The job we have is to build the party and mobilise the party so that it grows more than it is now because if an election came tomorrow, you think the 2.8 million people who voted for us will still do that? No, batubwelamo (they are fed up with us) but the job we have is to add more people to the party. So, don’t complain that we are receiving people from the opposition. That’s the tactic to finish PF and we will not have an opposition in 2026. And all will move well, let’s not deny those who are joining us. Your leaders are not dull. Don’t think that they are not thinking. They are doing it for you and the party.”