*PRESS STATEMENT*
*12th April 2021*
*ZAMBIAN YOUTHS AND WOMEN, YOU FINALLY GOT THE ANSWER FROM THE PF CONVENTION WHY YOU ARE SUFFERING*
We fully sympathise with our fellow youths and women in the PF who are currently crying for having been completely ignored and sidelined from the national leadership of the just ended PF SELECTIVE convention.
What is even more painful is that these youths and women were made to pay nomination or application fees for what they thought was going to be a competitive electoral process, as members of the PF Central Committee.
They spent a lot of money printing campaign posters and door to door campaigns, but only to discover that the alfa and omega already had a list of preferred tired old men and women as his MCCs. The number of men outstripped those of women by far.
Here is a clear case of a political party swindling and duping its own youths and women by obtaining money by false pretence. If they can corruptly swindle money from their own members, what more from the ordinary Zambian citizens?
We could possibly have understood if the youths and women were subjected to a competitive intraparty electoral process and lost. But since there was no ballot cast at the PF SELECTIVE convention, it should have been much easier to have more youths and women appointed.
For those who thought the PF has an answer to the youths and women problems in this country, you finally got the answer from their SELECTIVE convention.
All they want from you is to dance and chant for them at Airports and roadsides and also carry out violent acts against your own people.
We are actually not surprised why there is high level of unemployment and lack of business opportunities for the youths and women in this country because the PF, which is the ruling party, has no place for these groups on their decision making table.
They may want to appoint a few more now that we have reminded them, but that’s exactly what they always do by regarding them as an after thought.
That’s exactly what they did when they launched some kind of a youth and women empowerment programmes, when it took some gallant youths to demonstrate in the bush.
As youths and women of Zambia, you are already on the high table in the UPND party and there are already clear programmes and policies addressing your plight.
Gilbert Liswaniso
UPND National Youth Chairperson