Copperbelt UPND labels Ntundu a mole
By Ernest Chanda
Sun 20 Jan. 2013, 10:30 CAT
THE UPND says it has not stopped any of its members of parliament from working with the government. But the party leadership on the Copperbelt has labeled its Gwembe member of parliament, Brian Ntundu, a mole for urging his colleagues to work with the government for development.
Reacting to Ntundu's call for his fellow party members to remove politics and work with the government, party deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said the leadership only forbade its members from working with the ruling PF.
"As UPND we have not stopped our members of parliament from working with government. That must be very clear on the minds of all well meaning Zambians. What we have stopped our members from doing is to work with PF. A clear distinction must be made between a government and a party," he said.
"Working with government is different from working with the party. However, the silver lining between government and the party running government is extremely thin that sometimes it is very difficult to figure it out where it ends because you find that the same people who are running a party are the ones in government. However, what is important in my view is to recognise when a member of parliament is interacting with government at the level of a government function. And a government function is blind to political parties. Now if a member of parliament is going to collaborate with government for government functions there is nothing really wrong that one can point at."
Mweetwa said there were so many issues on which UPND members of parliament had worked together with the government.
He said UPND members of parliament had many times voted together in parliament with the government on what he termed progressive policies.
Asked if he agreed with everything that Ntundu said, Mweetwa answered in the negative.
"I respect the fact that honourable Ntundu is entitled to hold an opinion that is constituted by himself. And I will defend his right to form and hold an opinion, but I do not agree with what has been attributed to him; some of the things that have been attributed to him," he said.
"For instance I don't agree with him when he says this budget is the best so far. He knows that the budget contains some of the things that we have disputed, so how can he brand such a calamitous budget as best? And I also disagree with what has been reported that he was speaking highly of President Sata. He must show evidence of what it is that Sata has done to deserve ululation and accolade in a meeting such as CDF meeting."
Asked if the party would discipline Ntundu based on what he said at the meeting, Mweetwa answered in the negative.
But Copperbelt Province UPND chairman Elisha Matambo said Ntundu was contradicting the stance of the party.
"We are asking honourable Ntundu to resign on moral grounds. He is a mole in the party who has an appetite for a ministerial position. So, we are asking him to leave quietly and look for a job from the PF government," said Matambo. "He is praising the budget which we refused as UPND. He is also speaking highly of the President who is harassing our president Hakainde Hichilema. Is that the government he says we should work with? He is putting salt on the injuries which we have. As an opposition party we are there to tell PF to create jobs for the people. In short we are working with government already by providing checks and balances."
Meanwhile, Mweetwa described the appointment of justice Minister Wynter Kabimba to the ZAWA board as a scandal.
"It defies all forms of reasonable logic, it is anomalous and scandalous. He is a very senior minister who by virtue of being on the ZAWA board should not be reporting to a junior minister Sylvia Masebo. It is like reporting to himself, and his presence in board meetings will intrinsically entail intimidation to the others. So, we urge President Sata to intervene and revoke that appointment," said Mweetwa.
Labels: BRIAN NTUNDU, CORNELIUS MWEETWA, ELISHA MATAMBO, UPND
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The pact and the problem of insincerity
By The Post
Fri 23 July 2010, 04:00 CAT
It seems there is a serious problem of insincerity and dishonesty in the PF-UPND pact. And probably, this is why Michael Sata is demanding sincerity in this pact.
We all know very well that this pact will not work if it is not founded on sincerity and honesty. And in any pact or alliance, those involved in it have to accept the integrity of their partners. If they fail to do so, it will not be possible for them to build a meaningful or viable partnership.
We say this because a pact that lacks sincerity will have intra-pact strife which will inevitably result in pact members’ concentration on discords, distracting the pact from effective and efficient political campaigns and day to day work among the masses. And this will inevitably lead to loss of public support and influence.
Sata’s demand for sincerity in the pact can be seen as an admission that this virtue is lacking in the PF and UPND electoral alliance. And this lack of sincerity in the pact is also confirmed by the statements attributed to Copperbelt UPND provincial chairperson Elisha Matambo, who is also in the party’s National Management Committee.
Matambo is said to have expressed disappointment with the behavior of the PF and urged them to respect the UPND as an equal, and not junior, partner who was equally strong on the Copperbelt. It seems there is no meeting of hearts in this pact. Sata says it is a matter of fact that the PF is bigger than UPND.
But the UPND believes the two parties are of equal strength. Is there sincerity and honesty in these claims? Is the PF bigger than the UPND? Is the UPND of equal strength with the PF on the Copperbelt?
Are these two political parties valuing themselves at their true worth? Is there sincerity and honesty in their view of themselves and that of their pact partners? Is this truly and sincerely a pact of two political parties of equal political strength?
Honest and sincere answers to these questions will be of great value to the leadership and members of PF and UPND because their alliance is based on what they believe each one of them is going to contribute to the electoral performance of the pact.
And probably the measure one brings in may influence or determine the measure one receives through adoptions for local government, parliamentary and presidential elections.
It is because of the possibility of this that attempts are being made to inflate the levels of one’s political strength. If PF is truly larger than UPND, then this is not a pact of equals because there is a senior and a junior partner in this alliance.
And this disparity may influence the size or number of seats each party takes and indeed which party will supply the pact’s presidential candidate. However, this is not to say that the pact partners cannot adopt different criteria for their adoptions that have nothing to do with their relative sizes.
But listening to Sata and Matambo, it seems relative size is a factor in this PF-UPND pact because both of them are talking about being bigger or being equally strong. And if these are important factors in this pact, then there will be need for honesty and sincerity in their measurement. And sincerity is generally understood to be truth in word and act.
One who means what he says is a sincere person. One who does not mean what he says is not a sincere person, and is perhaps even a hypocrite. And because of its purity, the term ‘sincerity’ has endeared itself to us. We love sincere people. We also love to be known as sincere people.
By ‘sincere’, we understand that the person acts to his conscience. If he acts according to the dictates of his conscience, we accept his sincerity. In that case, he is sincere to himself. In society, this is acceptable as sincerity, but this may be wrong.
Suppose a manager feels that according to his sincere conscience the clerk has to be treated as a second-class citizen, he may be sincere but the world outside may not accept it. He may be sincere but his own conscience may be underdeveloped. It is not enough to act according to the conscience; the conscience must also be cultured and noble.
Of all the levels of sincerity, mental sincerity is the easiest. If we leave aside blatantly insincere people such as liars, clever crooks, and so on and so forth, and really examine their beliefs, several facets of sincerity will emerge.
One can sincerely believe in a false idea – one can think is of equal strength with his partner when this is clearly not so, or one can think is bigger than his partner when this is plainly not so. This belief stands in the way of their progress. Sincerity should also be rational and intelligent and not foolish. It is not enough to be sincere, you must also be right.
A certain wrong belief about ourselves can have tragic consequences for our growth. An insincere political party cadre is perhaps able, by his cleverness, to convince the leadership of his party that he is the most influential, the best political organiser in an area and therefore indispensable to the party. Sometimes he comes to believe himself in his ‘ability’.
If he is a sensitive person, capable of further progress in life, the belief acts like a black cover over his soul and prevents him from any progress. Sometimes people wrongly believe, in all sincerity that their partner is the cause of all their problems.
But the problems they encounter in life, the blocks to their success, are really centered in themselves. These people lose a golden opportunity for progress. Their false view of themselves allows them to even commit outrages on the society. It does not matter they fool others, but it is a pity they fool themselves.
We can call them sincerely insincere people. Most of us have such a streak in one thing or another. Unless and until we come forward to shed this aspect of sincere insincerity, the inner light will not shine forth.
It is open to everyone to make his sincerity greater and greater every day. One can start by being guided by his conscience and becoming conscientious. One bases his sincerity on right information and socially acceptable intelligence, not sincere foolishness.
Insincerity is always weakness; sincerity even in error is strength. We should therefore go on trying to be sincere.
Each day we put on a mask, and we must take it off little by little. Sincerity does not and cannot substitute for truth. And sincerity is impossible, unless it pervades the whole being, and the pretence of it saps the very foundation of character.
Every person alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. Clearly, sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity. Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. But sincerity is always subject to proof.
Sincerity may be humble but she cannot be servile.
Looked at in this way, it’s clear that many things will need to change in the way the PF and UPND are dealing with each other for their pact to succeed and be of value to the Zambian people.
At the moment, there is too much posturing without addressing the real issues that will make their pact work. But like any structure that is anchored on a weak foundation, the pact if it doesn’t quickly address the problems arising from its weak foundation and make it strong, it is bound to have gigantic cracks that will permanently render it not viable.
Labels: CHILUFYA SATA, ELISHA MATAMBO, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PF-UPND
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Sata demands sincerity in PF-UPND pact
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 23 July 2010, 04:00 CAT
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday demanded sincerity in the PF-UPND pact.
Reacting to assertions by the UPND on the Copperbelt that the PF seemed to have little respect for UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and treated UPND like a junior party, Sata said the PF was not bulldozing the UPND, but that numerically PF was bigger than UPND.
“If we wanted to bulldoze, either UPND or ourselves would have stood in Luena. We are far much stronger in Luena and we prevailed on our candidate in Luena not to stand as an independent candidate. That is one,” Sata, who featured on a HOT FM radio programme, said.
“(2) I have not toured the country denouncing HH. But he has done so. I have not gone to the press, coming from America and say ‘I’m the best because I’m young’. I wasn’t born old.”
Sata said all the ministers in the current government were young but impotent when it came to delivering for the country. He said what mattered most in the Pact was sincerity.
“Senegalese President Professor Wade, they were saying 'he is an old man', but have you seen how he has transformed Senegal? Look at late former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere,” Sata said.
“The whole point is there is no need of bulldozing comrade HH. What we need is to be sincere to each other. We are very sincere to each other. And the point is when you are looking at numerical strength, even when you remove the 16 (PF) rebel MPs, we still have more numbers than our colleagues.”
Sata said numerically, PF was the second-largest political party in Zambia, while UPND was the third-largest.
“That is a fact which nobody, no UPND vice-president Richard Kapita, no another UPND vice-president Francis Simenda, nobody will rub. That’s a fact. We are the second-largest political party.
They are the third-largest,” Sata said. “You see, when they say we are bulldozing, they want Mr Sata to say ‘yes, stop talking. Yes Mr Hakainde you are the aspiring candidate’. PF is not Michael Sata and Michael Sata is not PF.”
Asked to comment on assertions by the UPND on the Copperbelt that they would not support the Pact if Hichilema did not stand, Sata responded: “Now you are saying choose a leader, but your colleagues are giving conditions; ‘if you don’t choose HH, we are not going to support the Pact’.
Let them continue because the more they continue, we learn more. Information is vital in everything you are doing because you have seen recently, ‘yes we welcome their pact with MMD’.”
Sata said MMD knew they were weak and thought they would get an extra province if they got the UPND.
He said leaders in the Pact should remove selfishness.
“If in Lusaka there are 10 or even two vacancies for councillorship or MP-ship, we need as leaders to look at the grassroots. ‘Which organisation is stronger between the two? Which organisation is capable of winning that seat?’ Not just to go blindly because you are a pact, ‘say oh no, it’s going to be PF…UPND’,” Sata said.
“You will end up being wiped out completely. And you see, our brothers in UPND, few of them would like to work with MMD, and we would encourage them to go with MMD because if you go with a murderer, you also become a murderer. If you go and dig roots for the witchdoctor, you are learning to become a witchdoctor.”
And responding to a caller who said he should be the first one to contest the general elections and Hichilema would follow later, Sata responded:
“This one is saying what UPND were talking on the Copperbelt. So on both sides we have radicals.”
Sata said the PF and UPND should listen to what the people were telling them because if they were not united, the MMD would continue to steal the elections.
Copperbelt Province UPND chairperson Elisha Matambo, who is also a national management committee member, was quoted in yesterday’s edition of the state-owned and government-controlled Times of Zambia, accusing the PF of behaving as though it was superior to UPND. Matambo said the PF had blown out of proportion the emergency Kitwe meeting recently chaired by Kapita.
He said the UPND was disappointed with the behaviour of the PF, and urged their pact partners to respect the UPND as it was equally strong on the Copperbelt.
Matambo was quoted as reacting to Nkana PF member of parliament Mwenya Musenge’s condemnation of the meeting held at Kitwe Little Theatre last Friday, where it was alleged that the UPND resolved to back President Rupiah Banda if Hichilema was not picked as the Pact’s presidential candidate.
“The PF should realise the meeting was purely a UPND meeting. PF has been having its own meetings without UPND members attending, and we have not been complaining. We wonder why they should be jittery whenever we hold our meetings,” Matambo said.
“Mr Musenge should not think it is only the PF which is strong on the Copperbelt. He should realise that the UPND is not a dead party on the Copperbelt; we are equally strong, and we demand respect from PF because we need each other in the Pact.”
Labels: ELISHA MATAMBO, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PF-UPND, SATA
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Cops question UPND C/belt chairperson over Mufumbwe violence
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Sun 16 May 2010, 03:30 CAT
POLICE officers from Solwezi on Friday evening interrogated Copperbelt UPND chairperson Elisha Matambo on his role in the Mufumbwe by-election, which was scooped by the UPND.
But Matambo has described his pursuance by the police as persecution of the worst kind. Matambo confirmed in an interview yesterday that four officers from Solwezi in North Western Province interviewed him at Ndola Central Police Station in the presence of his two lawyers, Jack Mwimbu and Derrick Mulenga.
He narrated that the officers found his brother at his business premises in Ndola and asked him to take them where he Matambo was.
"My brother called me that ‘there are some people here looking for you’ and I told him to let them come. They found me at Savoy Hotel around 17:30 hours, where I was having tea," he said.
He said the police officers asked him to accompany them to the police station because they wanted to interview him.
"I insisted that I would only accompany them to the police station with my lawyers. Those officers were very professional. They did not harass me, they just asked me questions and I gave them answers," he said.
Matambo said he was aware that the officers were being pressured from 'forces above' to push around and try to silence the strong voices in the opposition.
"This is persecution of the worst kind. We would have understood if they were also interviewing people in the other camp MMD. We were the ones who were brutalised in Mufumbwe, our campaign centre was attacked several times. They just want to instill fear in us but I can't blame the police because they are just being pushed," he said.
"Why are they pushing us around? Why haven't they interviewed the MMD who were beating up people? It is surprising that the victims of violence are the ones being persecuted."
Matambo said whoever was putting pressure on the police to harass the opposition should know that change was coming whether they liked it or not.
"Some of us know that our Lord lives and we'll face tomorrow because He holds our future and the future of this country. Jesus knows who was brutalising people. All fear is gone and we can face tomorrow and no one has the capacity to say no when Jesus says 'yes'," he said.
Matambo said Zambian politicians should take a leaf from the kind of issue-based politics exhibited by Britons.
And Mulenga described the interview as a "mere statement of clarification".
"They wanted to know his responsibilities in Mufumbwe, when he went there and when he came out. They were satisfied with the answers he gave them," said Mulenga.
UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma observed that police's selectivity and bias was creating tension in the country.
Kakoma complained that police had not arrested the people that wanted to kill him in Mufumbwe despite knowing who they were and that no MMD member suspected of instigating violence had so far been interviewed or arrested for their offences.
Kakoma urged the police to be impartial.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, CORRUPTION, ELISHA MATAMBO, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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