UPND has become petty - Manenga

UPND has become petty - Manenga
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Tue 19 June 2012, 13:23 CAT

FORMER UPND Copperbelt youth information and publicity secretary Ronald Manenga says UPND should flex its muscles on real issues that build the country than attack Fred M'membe. And Manenga says UPND is slowly losing direction because it has started attacking individuals instead of offering checks and balances to the PF government.

Commenting on the UPND leadership who are scheming to start radio programmes this week to denounce Post editor-chief Fred M'membe, Manenga said he was disappointed that UPND had become petty.

"If Hakainde Hichilema has personal differences with Mr M'membe, he should not bring them out in the public. I want to give him a piece of advice that attacking the media will not do him any good," he said.

He said the role of the opposition was to give checks and balances to the government and not waging war with the owners of newspaper companies.

Mangenga said M'membe was not a politician and that there was no way UPND should start attacking a person because they did not like what they were writing in the paper.

"Attacking Mr M'membe or President Michael Sata will not do HH and his party good. What he should do is to organise his party so that they can be debating on issues that will build the country and not petty issues. It is not right for the UPND to even start thinking of denouncing Mr M'membe, let him focus on the bigger picture which is the country," he said.

He said The Post Newspaper and M'membe were not the government that the UPND should attack them.

"Such things will not build the nation. UPND should focus its energy on the PF government and not The Post Newspapers and its editor-in-chief, this is very sad. I am really disappointed that UPND has become so petty that even trivial things were important to them, 'he said.

Manenga left the UPND ahead of the 2011 election to join the MMD. He was fielded as the MMD candidate for Chimwemwe Constituency.

Sources within UPND disclosed on Saturday that the party's leadership were uncomfortable with editorial comments that had been running in The Post over the last few days and were planning to denounce M'membe.

"Some of the leaders feel the editorials had been too hard on Hichilema and they want to denounce Fred also on radio and some of these small newspapers beginning Monday or so. So be ready because they are bitter," said the source.