MONDE AND MPOMBO SAYS HH SHOULD GO IN ORDER TO SAVE UPND Itezhi tezhi UPND member of parliament Greyford Monde says Hakainde Hichilema should vacate the presidency for the opposition party’s redemption. And George Mpombo says Hichilema should hang his political boots and stop wasting Zambians’ time as he is not a leader. In an interview with the Post, Monde said Hichilema had weakened the party’s popularity from the time he took over as president. “Look at the results that UPND has been scoring from the time that Hakainde took over. You can see that there is no improvement whatsoever. Every day the numbers are dwindling. That shows that something is wrong with the whole team,” he said. Monde said Hichilema had no capability to lead a political party and had lamentably failed from the time he took over. “In my view, I think there is no capability in the leadership of UPND or HH now and this is why they (UPND) are resorting to violence and when they notice that they are losing, then you should gear up for violence and that is not nice,” he said. Monde said UPND had lost direction and its only redemption would be if Hichilema left the presidency. He said the violent portrayal by UPND was a desperate move because they knew they could not win the just-ended Mangango by-election and other ward elections. “When they note that they are losing, they resort to violence. It is now their trend and it is sad,” Monde said. He claimed some UPND supporters had tried to take his life during the Mangango by-election. “UPND is being hostile to me, they were looking for me so that they can even kill me. Even if you see for example the way we operate, as I am working with government, there is no way I am expected not to perform certain duties. And I cannot be waiting. If I am in that area to work, I must work. UPND’s attitude of violence has cost them that seat,” he said. “They beat chiefs there, they beat the ministers, and they beat all of us. They attacked me, they attacked Honourable Sikazwe but you see the results have shown that people are not interested in violence.” Monde advised UPND to consider restructuring its political campaign because trying to decampaign opponents was not the message that Zambians wanted. “...You see the results, there they were busy saying Lingweshi is an old man, he is whatever but that is not the message the Zambian people want to hear. So they have to be strategic,” said Monde. In an interview, Mpombo, the People’s Democratic Party leader, said Hichilema had overstayed at the helm of the party and had failed to make the party tick because of his cantakerous ways of doing things. “Hichilema suffers from delusion of grandeur most of the time and it is baffling for him to think he can rise to the occasion. Since his loss in the 2011 elections, the party has continued on its path of poor performance, an indication that time is up for him,” said Mpombo. Mpombo said even the UPND’s victory in Kafulafuta was a fluke. “As a founder of UPND which was based on sound democratic principles and the vision of how to come up with a robust agriculture base for the country and how it can move forward, I do not regret leaving the party.” Mpombo said UPND should chart a new course of their party. “HH should hang his boots and allow other people to take over the party. It is clear his leadership has failed the party. Because of his poor leadership, the party had veered off its original ideas and going off the ladder. Most of the time, HH has been cantankerous without providing solutions,” he said. “Having been around for this long, Hichilema should have sold himself adequately but his poor leadership continues to come now and again. For me, he has failed the leadership test. It is time he gave up and let other people take over the party.” Mpombo said he was even regretting supporting Hichilema in the Kafulafuta by-elections. “Even their recent political performance on the Copperbelt was just a political fluke because for instance for Kafulafuta which they won on the Copperbelt, it was as a result of the forces that supported them on the opposition side including myself. Without the political forces coming together on the opposition side, UPND would not have gotten Kafulafuta. I personally regret about having supported UPND. They have demonstrated what they are capable of with other political parties,” Mpombo.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 15:06:51 +0000
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