By Merlyn Mwanza
UPND national youth chairman Gilbert Liswaniso was this morning irritated after a caller told him not to be lying to people that he lives in George compound as he recently purchased a house elsewhere and has been in the forefront of chasing the accuser from certain trading areas.
But Liswaniso told off the gentleman he only identified as Kaka, counter accusing him of having teamed up with other people to close his bars and thinking that he would suffer in perpetuity in the opposition.
Featuring on Hot FM’s Hot Seat programme this morning, Liswaniso also said he was aware as did President Hakainde Hichilema that people are complaining about the high cost of mealie meal in the country but that progress is not an event but a process.
When a caller going by the name, Kaka called in after the phone lines had been opened to the programme, he accused Liswaniso whom he referred to as Mwikisa to stop pretending and giving a semblance of modest that he lives in George compound when he recently purchased a house somewhere.
Questions have also been raised about Liswaniso now driving a Toyota Fortuner, including mentions about activities in the mines during the short period UPND has been in office.
Kaka further countered Liswaniso’s claims that he was spearheading the fight against caderism, when he accused the UPND youth leader of having chased him from some trading areas.
But Liswaniso’s did not take kindly to the attacks, telling Kaka to stop focussing on attacking his personality but would listen to him if he talked about the problems of mealie meal for instance.
He accused Kaka of having teamed up with other people during the PF rule to close his bars and thought he would suffer in perpetuity in the opposition.
Another caller named Patrick complained that the UPND cadres were not receiving any reward for calling in to radio programmes to show support for the ruling party and wondered if Liswaniso had visited other areas of the country to prove his claims that caderism has ended.
But Liswaniso said calling to radio programmes should be voluntary, just like he voluntarily used to call in, and that people should not expect that he will go to them to pay them for calling in to programmes.
He said in fact it was wrong for people to call in to programmes for the sake of just praising instead of talking about the real situations happening in their communities.
Liswaniso claimed that the UPND has managed to reduce caderism by 80 percent, crediting himself for the progress as it had become heavily entrenched during the PF administration, despite several callers contradicting that position and mentioning specific areas where UPND cadres are collecting money from people including around Mumbwa road traffic lights, in the town centre, and a UPND cadre going by the name Kalufyanya who collects money around Mandevu area among other areas mentioned.
He said the fight against caderism was an ongoing process and that he has even appealed to the President to be continuously addressing the issue of caderism at every opportunity.
Liswaniso further addressed the issue of President Hichilema’s graphs which have elicited debate in the country, saying the UPND administration was not in a war with the Catholic Church but that some fathers who were talking never said anything when people were being gassed in their homes during the PF rule.
However, Liswaniso castigated his own party members for not being available to the clergy, saying they should be going to Churches to appreciate the challenges people are facing and the issues being raised.
“We are a problem. Maybe takula mitu (we have grown big headed) and we are leaving everything to one person. Let’s go in Churches. Let’s mingle and see where the problems are,” said Liswaniso.
He said as someone who lived in the “komboni (compound)” the major complaint the UPND administration should focus on is on the prices of mealie meal, cooking oil and other essentials, but that addressing matters was a process and not an event.
“If the bag of mealie meal will be cheaper in 2025, 2026 it will mean we have dealt with that problem … Yes it is true people are complaining over a bag of mealie meal … Does Hakainde Hichilema know? Yes he knows,” said Liswaniso.
