By Isaac Zulu
UPND national youth chairperson Gilbert Liswaniso says no one will ascend to leadership positions in UPND through protests, amidst assertions from party insiders that party Secretary General Batuke Imenda must be sent into the foreign missions and that President Hakainde Hichilema’s “methodical approach” has not born fruits yet.
Some senior UPND officials have appealed to President Hakainde Hichilema to send party secretary general Batuke Imenda in diplomatic missions.
Sources within UPND structures have disclosed that the youths that were protesting against the leadership of Imenda and Garry Nkombo as UPND secretary general and national chairperson for elections, respectively; feel that Batuke Imenda is more of a technocrat than a politician and he should not continue working as a chief executive officer at the party Secretariat, but instead should be deployed in diplomatic missions.
The UPND sources explained that the youths are not happy with the “methodical approach” that President Hakainde Hichilema is employing in his governance style.
“The youths are not only annoyed and frustrated about the recent defeat that we suffered in the Luangwa mayoral by-election, they are also not happy with the methodical approach that President Hakainde Hichilema has adopted in dealing with party matters and national issues,” the source explained, who sought anonymity. “They feel that ba Batuke Imenda has run his race as secretary general and it is high time he was assigned another position. They feel our current secretary general is more of a technocrat than a politician and should, therefore, be sent in diplomatic missions.”
But UPND national youth chairman Gilbert Liswaniso has said that no individual in the UPND will ascend to positions using protests.
Speaking in an interview, Liswaniso stressed on the need for UPND youths to follow the laid down procedures when airing their grievances.
“Positions in the UPND are not gotten through protests. No…! We are a political party with rules and regulations. And therefore people should follow the laid down procedures whenever they want to engage with the higher authorities and not via protests. Those that are resorting to protests are on their own. For us, we believe in dialogue and counseling each other,” said Liswaniso.
And UPND Lusaka district deputy chairman for mobilisation Costain Chilikwazi echoed sentiments by Liswaniso, saying the UPND leadership will not encourage lawlessness among its party members.
He said that the UPND has established internal structures to deal with grievances among party members, hence the need for all the UPND youths to familiarise themselves with the same.
“We are an organised political organisation with well established internal structures to deal with all internal matters affecting party members. They need to familiarise themselves with all the in house rules of the UPND. Therefore it is irrational for the UPND youths to resort to resolving internal matters on the streets,” Chilikwazi said. “And like our national youth chairman has said, we will not condone lawlessness among our youths. We want to do things differently, unlike what used to happen with the Patriot Front youths.”
Chilikwazi also charged that Patriot Front members that are celebrating that there are divisions in the UPND are wasting their time because all structures in the ruling party are intact.
“We have also noticed that some Patriot Front members, including Emmanuel Mwamba who is all over different media platforms, celebrating that there are divisions in the UPND just a year after forming government. These colleagues from the opposition political parties are mistaken and wasting their time,” said Chilikwazi. “To the contrary, all our party structures are very intact. So we won’t waste our time to respond to them. They should just continue enjoying their freedom of expression which came at a high price from UPND members, including President Hakainde Hichilema, who suffered a lot at the hands of the PF while in opposition. Those colleagues should know that UPND members sacrificed a lot for the freedom of expression they are enjoying today without any infringement.”
