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UPND, PF agreed not to compete against each other – Hichilema

UPND, PF agreed not to compete against each other – Hichilema
By George Chellah
Wed 09 June 2010, 09:50 CAT

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema yesterday said the UPND and PF agreed not to compete against each other in any election. During Radio Phoenix’s Let The People Talk programme, Hichilema said the UPND and PF wanted their members at the grassroots to understand each other.

“We agreed that we will not compete in any election, by-election or general election which means a councillor we will have one candidate depending on the area, and which party is more desired by the voters because that’s important. MP in a by-election… you have seen the way we have scored in the last by-elections, it’s not debatable,” he said.

Hichilema said the mood of the people that turned up for the launch of the pact was one of excitement and anger.

“If the people trust us with change, we got to do our best. When we are given the opportunity to serve the people of Zambia as they provided the example by coming from all the compounds of Lusaka, all the locations of Lusaka and many of them walking, it reignites the spirit that I only saw in 1991,” he said.

Asked about who would head the alliance in 2011, Hichilema answered:

“That question has been asked several times. We said that the Pact is here to stay and we reiterate that. The Pact is here because the people of Zambia wanted it. The political map of Zambia has been pretty drawn. People are fatigued with divisions, that’s what the Pact is here to resolve. To unite the people to take out the divisions that have been too obvious. This pact is being structured on that basis of unity of purpose. Ethnicity should never divide us. We must organise this pact, learn the lessons of the past.”

He said people in the Pact were not fools and they understood what MMD wanted.

“Why are they driving us to give them a candidate? When they are squabbling whether it’s Ng’andu Magande, whether it’s George Mpombo, whether it’s Rupiah Banda and whether MMD will have a convention. Let them focus on their issues and we know what we are doing. Very methodical, we are conscious of competition, we are conscious of what MMD wants to do to destroy us, we are very careful,” Hichilema said.

“But we are on top of what we are doing. We want the people of Zambia to understand that in a political process there is also strategy. There are tactics and we would not release our strategy and tactics to the MMD so that we lay ourselves bare.”
He said the Pact would make a decision taking into account the lessons of the past.

“We will make a choice that will bring about the third liberation. Together, if one becomes President we don’t want to see another walking away. We have learnt that lesson, you know what happened in the UPND when someone lost an election at the convention, they walked away. In the PF-ULP pact it was a similar issue, unfortunately it was the same individual walking away. We want to learn those lessons,” Hichilema said.

A caller from Ndola, a Mr Mizhi who described himself as Hichilema’s traditional cousin asked if he was ready to serve under Sata.

“I want you to tell me the truth from the bottom of your heart. The pact that you have entered in with Mr Sata the writings are on the wall no doubt about this. It is Mr Sata who is going to be adopted as a presidential candidate from that pact. Now badala, again I repeat tell me the truth from the bottom of your heart. Are you ready to serve under Mr Michael Chilufya Sata?” Mizhi asked.

But Hichilema maintained that the Pact had not decided on the candidate yet.

“…That Mr Sata will be adopted candidate, that’s not true, absolutely not true. If you say it’s Hakainde, that is not true also because we have not decided and we have explained this several times. What we are saying is not really basically …if you like to dodge the questions, there is no dodging the questions. We have set a process, we have set a procedure,” Hichilema said.
And Sata phoned in to compliment Hichilema.

“I just want to tell you that my brother Hichilema was talking about Zamtel when we had a joint press conference about Zamtel last year,” said Sata. “So my brother should tell them more, he is doing very, very well. My brother has handled the programme very, very well. I want to compliment him.”

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PF-UPND

posted by MrK @ 2:37 PM