Officials disregarding youth advice will be reported to Hichilema, fired – Liswaniso
UPND National Youth chairperson, Gilbert Liswaniso has fumed at party and government officials who ignore the advice of the youth wing stating that they will be reported to President Hakainde Hichilema so that they can be fired.
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Furthermore, Liswaniso also cautioned against disrespecting Party leaders and the Head of State as they are the ones, whom party members and leaders should take orders from.
However, Liswaniso told officials such as ministers to follow protocol when doing things.
“I’m warning ministers, party members, officials, there is only one chairman of the party Collins Maoma and one secretary general Batuke Imenda where we report all of us.”
“Respect should be given to them, no one should get orders from anyone apart from these people. We need to respect protocol. President Hakainde Hichilema is a friend to everyone, it’s just about levels. In fact the real friends of President Hichilema are the youths and women because they are the ones who see a lot and they campaign for him massively,” said Liswaniso.
The youth leader further said no matter how close one may be to the President, if they are not doing the right thing for the party, then the youth wing will have to make it right by reporting the offenders to the highest office.
“No matter how close you are to the president, we will tell you off. We will advise you. If we advise you and you don’t want to listen to us, we will tell the president. If you don’t want to want to hear what we tell you as youth wing, we will tell the president that you are not with us. We only have one president and we need to support him,” noted Liswaniso on Hot FM this morning.
Meanwhile, Liswaniso added that the UPND is open to criticism and those who have issues to raise are free to reach out to the party.
“When people complain, it doesn’t mean that they hate you, we are open to criticism. We have received a lot of criticism since our time in opposition. We listen to them. As UPND, we are happy that we are running the country with people when they complain because it means they want us to do more,” he said.
But Liswaniso reiterated that just because the ruling party allows criticism doesn’t mean that people should insult or break the law when addressing their issues.
“If you break the law, you will definitely be arrested. We have heard of many people, politicians criticising the party but they don’t get arrested but if they break the law, then the police will arrest them. If you insult or use bad language, then definitely you will be arrested,” added Liswaniso.
He appealed to the Zambia Police Service to communicate to the people of Zambia on how the rule of law works so that when they are arrested for breaking the law, they don’t get shocked.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, January 14, 2025