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UPND can survive without PF - UPND

UPND can survive without PF - UPND
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Fri 24 Sep. 2010, 04:02 CAT [580 Reads, 0 Comment(s)]

UPND national management committee (NMC) member and Copperbelt Province chairman Elisha Matambo has said UPND can survive without the PF.

In an interview at the Post Newspapers office in Ndola yesterday, Matambo said the problems that the Pact currently faced were created by PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba because he stopped the elections committee negotiations.

Matambo said it was now clear from Kabimba’s statements that he did not want the pact to succeed.

He said it was also clear that Kabimba and PF perceived UPND as a small party, which could be swallowed by PF.

Matambo said it was time that Kabimba and the PF stated their position on the pact because they had not respected any agreement between the two parties. He reminded Kabimba that UPND was the second longest serving political party in the country.

He said the UPND had stood the test of time even after going through hard times like when the party lost its president Anderson Mazoka.

“The earlier Wynter realises that pride does not pay and that we need each other if we are to form the next government the better. I also disagree with president Michael Sata that PF is bigger than the pact,” Matambo said.

“The pact is not for PF or UPND, it is not also for Sata or HH; but it is for Zambians. On the issue of disciplining Copperbelt youth chairman Joe Kalusa, I am challenging president Sata, why didn’t he punish Wynter when he called president Hakainde Hichilema names? Why didn’t he punish Guy Scott when he published an article that was damaging to the pact? I know that Sata is good at idioms, there is one that says that Chiwamila galu kuluma mbuzi noti mbuzi kuluma galu. UPND will survive even without PF, just like PF will survive without UPND. But records are showing that on our own, we can’t win and form government. We need each other.” Matambo prayed that both political parties remove their selfish motives and let the pact survive for the sake of Zambians. Matambo said he had evidence to show that Kabimba did not like the pact.

“Wynter Kabimba has been an enemy of the pact. The pact launched nine committees three to four months ago. I happen to be in the elections committee and we were given terms of reference in the negotiations and all the nine committees have four people from each political party,” Matambo explained.

“The elections committee was supposed to have a meeting to discuss who should stand on which constituency and ward. The committee was given two months to do the negotiations, but when we asked our friends from PF to meet, they postponed the meeting three times saying they were not ready, but eventually we met.”

He said the first meeting was held at the PF secretariat in Lusaka and both parties agreed to most of the issues raised.

“But when we reached the negotiations on who should stand in which constituency or which ward, we agreed to come back in the afternoon because we needed to get documents like the 2001, 2006 and 2008 election results to assist us. But when we came back in the afternoon, our friends told us that their bosses told them not to go ahead with the negotiations. We were surprised and we dispersed,” he said.

Matambo said after a week, the elections committee called a meeting with the mobilising committee. He said the two secretaries general - Kabimba and Winston Chibwe - attended the meeting and the two vice-presidents were supposed to be in attendance but Scott did not make it because he was unwell. Matambo said UPND vice president for political affairs Francis Simenda chaired the meeting and they learnt that Kabimba had stopped the negotiations.

“Not only did he stop the elections committee’s negotiations, he also stopped negotiations for other committees as well. And when doing that, he single-handedly did that without asking anyone. The meeting queried Kabimba why he ignored what the two political parties had put in place and why he stopped the negotiations, but he became upset,” Matambo said.

“I am challenging him to refuse what I am saying and if he wants he can take me to court, I have witnesses. In the meeting Wynter came out in the open and said that UPND cannot be an equal partner to PF. And he was shouting on top of his voice. He continued saying that even in the States when political parties come together, they cannot be equal.”

Matambo said Kabimba even went on to say that the earlier the pact died the better because he was not comfortable with it.

“Everyone in the meeting got upset with Wynter and I remember Nchanga PF parliamentarian Wylbur Simuusa said that what Wynter said was not good because the pact had signed an agreement that both political parties were equal partners if we had to form the next government. And after that Wynter wanted to walk out of the meeting but he was stopped,” said Matambo.

“We told Wynter that the pact was not for PF or for UPND but that it was for all Zambians and he was blocked from going out of the meeting. The meeting even asked him to withdraw his statement and he apologised. I want him to refuse to what I am saying, if I am lying.” Differences have emerged in the pact following disagreements over the Chilanga by-election.

Labels: PF, PF-UPND, UPND, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 7:04 AM