THE POLICIES I HELPED CRAFT ARE WORKING AND OPPOSING THEM WOULD BE A DISSERVICE – SAYS CHARLES KAKOMA AS HE REJOINS THE UPND
LUSAKA – 17/05/22
” It would be folly for me to sit on the other side and oppose the implementation of some of the very policies that I helped the UPND craft and adopt,” says Charles Kakoma as he sends a passionate apology to Republican President Hakainde Hichilema,his wife Mutinta and the greater UPND family on his decision to defect and join the PF last year.
And UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda has urged arm chair critics of the UPND mobilisation strategies to assist his office with workable and practical methods of growing the party without receiving citizens wanting to join the party.
Meanwhile,former Chilanga UPND Member of Parliament Captain Cosmas Moono says it will be hypocrical of him to remain in the terraces at the time when the UPND were implementing workable solutions for the good of the country.
Mr Kakoma who rejoined the UPND at a Media briefing this morning said he was part of the team that spent sleepless nights in crafting the party’s free Education policy which has seen an increase in the number of learners in public schools while the recruitment of 30,000 teachers and opposing such policies that have proven popular so far would be rendering a disservice to the nation.
“I have today made up my mind to come back to my political home. It became a challenge for me to sit there and oppose the very policies I helped in crafting.This is I’m here to ask the Secretary General to find space in his heart to allow me to rejoin the UPND. Why should I start opppsing what is good for the Zambian people?” asked Kakoma.
He further added that government under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema was working at providing workable solutions in stabilising the economy which was in its doldrums and he felt the need to rejoin the ruling party at the time the country was going through hardships as it tried to stabilise itself.
Mr Kakoma who was the party’s longest serving chairman of information before the 2021 intraparty elections said the decision by the government to let go of the expensive black market borrowing of capital in preference for the cheaper and flexible IMF was the correct way of doing business as the past way of doing business had suffocated the country leaving it in debt.
He also took time to apologize to President Hakainde Hichilema, the First Lady, Mutinta Hichilema and the general UPND party membership for leaving them at the eleventh hour out of frustration.
“I wish to offer my sincere apologies for injuring many of the people in the party in particular the President of the Republic of Zambia. As most if you know, the President has been a friend and for me to have left him at the eleventh hour would have been injurious to him. SG, please convey to his Excellency that Mr Kakoma is very sorry. Also convey to Mutinta Hichilema that I am very sorry. She was very welcoming to me each time I visited Community House. She was I believe hurt that the person that she trusted so much had betrayed her husband”,he said.
He further apologized to the National Management Committee-NMC-members, the party’s National Executive Committee-NEC-and the rest of the party hierarchy across the country.
And first UPND Chilanga member of Parliament and Chairman for Security and Defence, Captain Cosmas Moono said he has decided to officially rejoin the party so that he can participate in the country’s developmental agenda which he described as being on the right trajectory.
Captain Moono who left the UPND in 2015 before losing the Chilanga seat on the PF ticket in 2016 and subsequently losing as an independent candidate under Choma Central in 2021 says the new policies under President Hichilema and his administration such as the fight against corruption, payment of retirees benefits and other arrears had prompted him to openly rejoin politics.
“When you’re a politician and things a happening…like, when UPND formed Government in 2021 and started implementing progressive policies, I decided that i had to officially rejoin the UPND so that I could be part of the party’s development agenda. With the trajectory on which the New Dawn is moving, I see Zambia becoming a prosperous nation,” he said.
Meanwhile,Secretary General Batuke Imenda who welcomed the two party founder members says it was a pity that he had been receiving alot of negative publicity from online bloggers who mostly are never found in the campaigns to witness first hand challenges campaigners were going through.
Mr Imenda says in as much as he welcomes negative criticism,it was be imperative that such criticism is accompanied by solutions that would help grow the party in readiness for 2026 other than accepting both new and old members into the party.
“We have to understand that no person is bigger than the party and the coming back of Mr Kakoma and Captain Moono is a clear indication that one is safer inside than outside. These two gentlemen were there at a time when it was unfashionable to belong to the UPND. They stood their ground in 2006 when the party had disintegrated. If they were not strong at that time, there would never have been a UPND-led Government,” he said.
“We know what they did when the party was struggling and at the rock bottom. When am criticized for bringing such people back into the party, I keep quiet because I know where the party has come from. If our policy as a party was that we would not receive anyone, the party would have gone down.These men were there at the founding of this party. They strayed and we must feel that when one is lost, we have to find ways of reconciling.These are the epitome of the UPNDs institutional memory and it is just prudent that we welcome and accept them back home where they belong”,the UPND chief executive officer said.
He has since challenged those who are in the habit of criticising the party each time it accommodated new member to come out in the open and tell the party leadership on the new formula for growing the party.
The briefing was attended by NMC members Grace Chivube and Michael Chuzu
(C) THE FALCON NEWS