Maravi

UPND wouldn't be here if Saki was its leader, says Mutinta Mazoka

UPND wouldn't be here if Saki was its leader, says Mutinta Mazoka
By Mutale Kapekele
Monday January 21, 2008 [03:00]

UPND would not be here today if Sakwiba Sikota had taken over the party presidency, Mazoka’s widow Mutinta has charged. Addressing former United Liberal Party (ULP) members who were rejoining the UPND last week, Mutinta said she had been vindicated by Sikota’s failure to run his party.

“I refused to endorse Sakwiba as my husband’s successor because I saw that he was not working,” Mutinta said. “If Sakwiba had worked hard, we would not have looked elsewhere.”

She said as vice-president of the UPND, Sikota would have been an automatic successor of the late Mazoka.

“I saw that there was nothing in him (Sakwiba) and I do not regret that I chose to support Hakainde Hichilema over him,” Mutinta said. “If he had been endorsed as our party president, I can assure you that the UPND would not have been here today.”

Mutinta also appealed to old UPND members to assist Hichilema in taking the party forward. She said she was happy to get out of her ‘cocoon’ to welcome the defectors to the party.

When contacted for a comment, Sikota refused to comment but said ULP chairperson for women affairs Felistus Kalembula would comment on his behalf.

Kalembula, who is also former UPND chairperson for women, in a statement released on Saturday expressed disappointment with Mutinta’s comments about Sikota.
She charged that Mutinta was just jealous of Sikota’s achievements and that she was bitter about the people that left UPND to form ULP.

Kalembula stated that if Sikota had not worked hard in the UPND, he would not have been elected as Mazoka’s deputy.

“The nation knows that Mrs. Mazoka did not support Sakwiba because he is not Tonga,” she said.

But leading the team of defectors to the UPND, former acting ULP secretary general Sikwindi Situla accused Sikota of bad leadership.

“We cannot in one breath preach good governance and fair play and in the other help to institutionalise the very ills that hold us backwards,” Situla said. “He (Sikota) single-handedly appointed a secretary general through the back door, an act that is not just unconstitutional but also deceitful.”

Situla accused Sikota of confiscating personal letters meant for the ULP national youth chairman and himself and doctoring the list of those selected to represent the party at the National Constitutional Conference.
Situla was suspended by the ULP on December 18, 2007 over accusations of causing confusion in the party by organising a national steering committee meeting without authority.

Situla did not recognise the suspension and described it as “null and void.”
During the defections, Hichilema charged that there was too much corruption in MMD. He said Kanyama compound was a good example of how the MMD had failed.

“If you live in Kanyama, to go to the toilet at night you have to swim because the place is flooded,” Hichilema said. “There are power blackouts there and other social services are just not available. That place is a good example of the failures of the MMD.”

Hichilema said he could not wait to see how the MMD would carryout their campaigns in Kanyama

Labels: MUTINTA MAZOKA, SAKWIBA SIKOTA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 8:21 AM