Maravi

50 UNIP members defect to PF

50 UNIP members defect to PF
By Ernest Chanda
Wed 20 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

FORMER Kasenengwa UNIP member of parliament Timothy Nyirenda has said the party will never regain its popularity because of interference from Dr Kenneth Kaunda. And former member of the Central Committee in charge of the youth, Mulenga Mwiche has attributed the MMD’s growing unpopularity to Dr Kaunda.

Nyirenda, who led 50 other members of Zambia’s oldest political party as they officially defected to the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in Lusaka yesterday, bemoaned the party’s phase out of the political scene.

He said it was sad that there was no hope of UNIP rising again despite his commitment and that of many others.

“It is in one way the saddest day for me because I leave a party that I loved so much. It is sad that UNIP will never rise again because it is in the hands of one man, Dr Kaunda. UNIP has now become a family party where those of us who tried to revive it were called names. We fought hard to revive the party but because it was under the hand of Dr Kaunda we were frustrated. UNIP is no more and only Ostriches will not believe this,” Nyirenda said.

He appealed to his colleagues to view PF leader Michael Sata as a changed person.

“Those of us who believe in the Bible know the story of a man called Saul who later turned into Paul. Many of us have viewed Mr Sata as a bad man and we despised him. But I’m here to appeal to you that we join him and work with him because he is truly a changed man; he has changed from Saul to Paul,” said Nyirenda.

And Mwiche said Dr Kaunda’s association with the MMD had greatly cost the party because Zambians still remembered his tyranny during his reign.

Mwiche who also defected to the PF accused Dr Kaunda of befriending President Rupiah Banda in order to protect his family legacy.

“UNIP has lost direction due to Dr Kaunda’s influence. The old man has destroyed the party, it has become irrelevant and yet it is the founding party of this country. The party has been reduced to a family club where if you don’t dance to the tune of the old man Dr Kaunda then you are irrelevant,” Mwiche charged.

“It has been reduced to a cult. May I urge the PF government not to allow Dr Kaunda to influence them when they come into power? Those of you who remember very well know that Mr Rupiah Banda was a member of the UNIP central committee. And he tried hard to remove Kaunda’s influence on the party but he got frustrated and retired to his farm. And now that he is President Dr Kaunda wants to use him to preserve his family.”

And welcoming the defectors, PF vice-president Guy Scott justified his party’s delayed convention.

“Many times we’ve been condemned as PF for not going for a convention. Imagine if we had gone for a convention early, all these people joining us would not have had a chance of vying for different positions in the party. You’ve seen our programme of electing party leadership at different levels. I encourage you all to compete for all the positions since we are one family,” said Scott.

Labels: PF, PF-UPND, TIMOTHY NYIRENDA, UNIP

posted by MrK @ 5:30 AM