SAMEMAN Hakalumbwe says the UPND will go in the 2021 general elections more united than ever before.
Commenting on a recent statement issued by PF national deputy mobilisation chairperson Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba in which he projected that there would be more divisions and defections in the UPND in the run up to next year’s general elections, Hakalumbwe described the former defence minister’s statement as wishful thinking.
“We are currently conducting district intraparty elections; we will soon be conducting our provincial intraparty elections, then proceed to conduct the national convention. And after the national convention, the UPND will emerge stronger and more united than ever before. The UPND will go into the 2021 general elections as a united force,” Hakalumbwe, who is former Kapiri Mposhi UPND youth chairman, said. “As for the big man GBM, what I can say about his statement is that this is the man who upon re-joining the PF told the Zambian people that he is going to dismantle the UPND. But to the contrary, GBM has failed to dismantle the UPND because the UPND is still very intact. So, what GBM is saying or insinuating is just wishful thinking.”
Hakalumbwe charged that Mwamba was scheming to sponsor some individuals to cause confusion at the UPND national convention with a view to creating an impression that there were divisions in the opposition party.
“He is saying what he is saying in order to please his appointing authorities in PF secretary general Davies Mwila and President [Edgar] Lungu. But the truth is that this Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba also known as GBM has failed to make any impact on the Zambian political scene. He has lost political direction,” he said. “It is in public domain that GBM used to say that PF is a bunch of thieves, and when he resigned from the UPND to re-join the PF he said he was just politicking. The big man cannot be trusted politically. If GBM was politically popular as he claims, he was going to form his own political party. By the way, we are aware that GBM is planning to sponsor some disgruntled individuals; both in the UPND and outside the party, to come and cause confusion at our party’s national convention in order to create an impression that indeed there are divisions and mass defections in the UPND.”
Hakalumbwe warned Mwamba that the party was ready for him.
“We are on the ground, and our advice to him is that let him hold his breath. Ba GBM has been going round the country scandalising our party president Hakainde Hichilema, but HH has never responded because the UPND top leadership feels it is a waste of time to respond to an individual who is finished politically,” said Hakalumbwe. “But as young people in the UPND and ordinary members, we have a duty to defend our party president. So, we will be reacting to his sentiments. Some PF officials in Mkushi, Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi and other districts in Central Province have been confiding in us and have confessed that things are not okay. They have acknowledged that the economy is in a mess, they have lamented the increase in fuel prices, electricity load-shedding by Zesco and increased prices of fertiliser and other farming inputs. And these PF officials are willing to work with us.”