By Kamuti Muyambela
UPND Youths have accused Mazabuka member of parliament Garry Nkombo of deliberately executing a political cleansing exercise to get rid of Lozis in the party.
The youths from five constituencies of Western Province: Nalolo, Sesheke, Senanga, Mongu, and Kaoma, in a statement to Daily Revelation accused the UPND leadership of killing the party in the province.
They singled out Nkombo for allegedly destabilising the party by continuously attacking some members of parliament in the province.
“Mr Nkombo has been attacking our MPs from Western province for some time now. He should tell us why he has been agitating fellow leaders to side-line our people and replace them with Tongas. We know how northerners in the party were hounded out. Hon Nkombo seems to be silently executing a cleansing exercise to get rid of Lozis in the party and ensure an all Tonga executive is in place. He should tell us if the party is just for Tongas alone,” youths asked.
They bemoaned leadership crisis in UPND.
The youths further accused UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema and the party as a whole of neglecting them.
“We have for long been neglected by the party executive which just sits in Lusaka enjoying themselves and only remembers us when elections approach. We have no support in terms of material, finance and logistics to grow the party in western province. This is the case in other regions of the country as well. Our President Mr Hichilema has never sat down with us or visited this place to mobilize the party since the treason aftermath. This has created a sense of demotivation. We are no longer the stronghold we have been all along. The party is weak in the province,” they noted. “To add salt to this injurious insult, Hon Gary Nkombo issued a statement attacking Hon (Professor Geoffrey) Lungwangwa accusing him of sabotaging the party and funding resignation of our councillors. The councillors have been neglected by the party. Our President doesn’t care for his people”.
They called on the party leadership to up their game, as youths in the province would not entertain this trend to continue ahead of next year’s general elections.
“We therefore, would like to state that as youths in the province our force will be felt soon. We delivered Sesheke and can so deliver to any party we choose. We stand for unity and development. Enough is enough!” the stated.
“As UPND youths in Western Province we have noticed with much disappointment how the party is losing popularity in this province. This is not only because of developmental programs by the government but also because of a leadership crisis in the party.” And Nkombo when contacted declined to comment, saying there was no truth in the youths’ accusations against him.