WE’LL UNLEASH CADRES ON CRIMINALS WHO WANT TO KILL HH – UPND MP

WE’LL UNLEASH CADRES ON CRIMINALS WHO WANT TO KILL HH – UPND MP

UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda has condemned the violence that took place in Chingola on Saturday, stressing that violence will never be a solution.

Meanwhile, Bweengwa UPND MP Kasauta Michelo says the UPND are ready to protect President Hakainde Hichilema and will unleash cadres on criminals who want to kill him.

Speaking at a press briefing, Tuesday, Imenda said acquiring wealth through disorder and opportunism would only destroy the country and revert it to the bad old days.

“President Hichilema’s passion for youth empowerment is clear in education, agriculture, health, security and mining. His administration has consistently prioritised the creation of jobs in all these sectors and empowering young Zambians with opportunities to succeed. The UPND, therefore, condemns in the strongest terms the recent riots and the vandalism in Chingola. Violence is not and will never be a solution. It only destroys opportunities that the government and the private investors are working hard to create for the people. To that end, acquiring wealth through disorder and opportunism will only help to destroy this country and take it back to the bad old days. It will only help to drive away investor confidence in the economic sector, creating a culture of boom and bust in our economic management,” Imenda noted.

“You’ll remember that when PF took over, the economy of this country was reaching middle [income] economy, the economy which was considered to be one of the poorest in the world. Zambia was one of the poorest countries in the world, but MMD worked hard to make sure that our country reaches middle [income] economy. PF took over, and we went down back to [being] the poorest country in the world. President Hakainde Hichilema and his government and his party are striving hard to bring back our economy to middle [income] economy, and the indications are already clear. Five percent growth has already been established, and at this rate, in the next one or two years, the economy will be one that we’ll be proud of as Zambians. So, should we allow a situation where opportunists just walk in to come and harvest [or] loot what President Hakainde Hichilema has worked so hard and is working so hard to create and improve the lives of the Zambian people?”

Imenda advised Chingola residents to engage government peacefully whenever grievances arise.

“We urge our dear residents of Chingola to engage with government constructively and peacefully whenever grievances arise. The new dawn administration is open to dialogue. [There is] no issue too big to be resolved through conversation and cooperation. As a party and government, we will remain guided by our principles of peace, unity and development. We call upon all citizens, especially our young people, to stand together in defending the gains made under President Hakainde Hichilema’s leadership and reject all forms of disorder and division. Let us choose dialogue over confrontation, discipline over lawlessness and progress over distraction. Together, we can continue building a prosperous, peaceful, united Copperbelt, a beacon of opportunity for all Zambians,” he added.

Imenda advised Chingola residents to engage government peacefully whenever grievances arise.

“We urge our dear residents of Chingola to engage with government constructively and peacefully whenever grievances arise. The new dawn administration is open to dialogue. [There is] no issue too big to be resolved through conversation and cooperation. As a party and government, we will remain guided by our principles of peace, unity and development. We call upon all citizens, especially our young people, to stand together in defending the gains made under President Hakainde Hichilema’s leadership and reject all forms of disorder and division. Let us choose dialogue over confrontation, discipline over lawlessness and progress over distraction. Together, we can continue building a prosperous, peaceful, united Copperbelt, a beacon of opportunity for all Zambians,” he added.

Responding to a question about whether or not cadreism was back, Imenda reaffirmed that the vice was not acceptable.

“I can tell you that our position never changes. What does the President say? ‘Go out there and harass people and you are on your own.’ That position does not change. It does not change whether you are in Chingola or you are in Lusaka. I do not know who those people are in Chingola because no one was arrested, no one was detained, so we do not know who they are, but you have seen people in our party getting arrested. You have seen people in our party getting fired from as big as structures as the national management committee. When you misconduct yourself, even among these people that you see here, they have fired their own members within the national management committee for disorder. So, if a member of the national management committee can be fired, who is a cadre? If ever there are people that think they will wake up one day to start beating up people in the streets, it will be them against the law,” said Imenda.

Meanwhile, Michelo said he had only declared cadreism on the individuals who attacked the President and not the majority peaceful Zambians.

“We thank the people of Chingola who went to receive the President, but we are disappointed with the minority disgruntled people who were throwing stones at our Republican President. Their aim was to kill our President, because when you get an object and you throw it at somebody, then you are aiming to kill, and the life of the President was endangered on that particular day. Because of that agitation, because of those people who wanted to kill the President, as UPND here in Monze District, we have declared ‘cadreism’ for those people who want to kill our President, but not to the peaceful majority Zambians, no! But to those people who want to kill or to take the life of our President, we are bringing cadreism to those because we don’t want to lose the life of our President,” Michelo argued.

“Otherwise, we are not taking cadreism to the market; we are not taking cadreism to bus stations [and] we are not taking cadreism anywhere but to anyone who is endangering the life of our President. We, in the UPND, with our cadres, we are ready to protect, and we’ll unleash cadreism on those criminals who want to kill our President. It’s protection of the President, we want to protect our President. Those are just few individuals who were hired to do that against the President. Majority citizens, those who went to receive the President, I think you even saw some women, those who got touched about what transpired on the Copperbelt and they were in large numbers. People of Copperbelt, Chingola in particular, are not happy about what happened in Chingola”.

He highlighted that the President had gained more popularity due to the incident that happened in Chingola as people were now more sympathetic towards him.

“Many people now, even those who never used to love the President, looking at what happened, the President gained more popularity on what transpired because now people are very sympathetic. Looking at what happened to our President, and if you look at the way he behaved himself, because lives were going to be lost there, but he restrained, and the police officers restrained themselves, and we thank them for that. Just imagine if it was [Edgar] Lungu and his former PF, we were going to be talking about something else, more than 100 people were going to die, a lot of people were going to be shot. The police can protect the President, and even we, the citizens, it’s our duty also to protect the President,” said Michelo.

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