People leaving UPND have failed to work hard - HH

People leaving UPND have failed to work hard - HH
By Mwala Kalaluka
Thursday August 02, 2007 [04:00]

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday said people that were leaving the party had failed to conform to the new style of leadership based on hard work. And UPND national youth chairman Frank Tayali has resigned from the party a day after he was suspended for not attending National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings.

Commenting on Tayali’s resignation from UPND, Hichilema said the only way the party could fight for a better Zambia was through hard work and it would therefore be unfair for some people to sit when others were working.

“We have come a long way and all we know is that we have to work hard. When people find somebody who wants to work hard they have a problem,” he said. “If you do not attend meetings, how are you going to revive the youth wing?”

Hichilema said he did not want to perpetuate a style of leadership where people wanted to gain where they had not made a contribution. He said UPND members must be ready to work hard.

And Addressing the press at Lusaka’s Zamcom Lodge yesterday, Tayali said he was leaving UPND which he helped found because of the excessive pride and arrogance being exhibited by the party leadership since the last general elections.

“It is because of this pride and arrogance that we have seen in the UPND of late that we have lost so many members,” he said. “Had there been tolerance, people like Sakwiba Sikota would not have left the party. Had it not been for this arrogance, leaders like Patrick Chisanga and Bob Sichinga would not have left.”

Tayali said a typical example of the arrogant style of leadership in the UPND could be noted from the way party president Hakainde Hichilema and secretary general Tiens Kahenya hurriedly drafted his suspension letter even after he had notified them that he was leaving.

“Such is how low the UPND has been reduced to,” Tayali said. “Political leaders in Zambia must know that when certain decisions like these have been made, they should be taken with humility and accepted.”

Tayali said the UPND had taken a laissez-faire approach to national issues, especially the current debate on the constitution-making process.

“A lot of vibrancy has withered out of the UPND,” Tayali said. “I think it is a blessing in disguise that I lost the parliamentary elections in Ndola.”

He said his decision to resign from the party was a painful one.

Tayali admitted that he had not been attending NEC meetings since January this year because he was on hibernation and he wanted to review his political future, which he was still reviewing.

Meanwhile, UPND sources said Tayali was offered an opportunity to go to China on an exchange visit immediately after the 2001 polls.

“It is highly believed that this move was instigated by the MMD after the elections. We are reliably told that he (Tayali) has since been offered by the MMD to go on a youth exchange programme in China,” said the source.

But Tayali said his recent trips to China had nothing to do with MMD. He said the statements were a matter of sour grapes.

“I have been on political hibernation and I made a decision after careful thought,” he said. “I do not know if we can make that an issue. In confidence, I can say that I have been to China. China is one place where you can do business in terms of trading.”

Meanwhile, UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa had a tough time controlling party youths who were shouting at Tayali for “telling lies” during the briefing. They said reasons Tayali was advancing for his resignation were a cover-up for his failure to perform. Mweetwa, however, said Tayali had made a valuable contribution to the party until the post-2001 election period.