Wed, 10 May 2017 10:47:51 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
I AM in charge of the UPND, so there can never be a leadership vacuum in the party even in the absence of party president Hakainde Hichilema and vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, UPND secretary general Stephen Katuka has charged.
And Mr Katuka has also said that the UPND would never stumble even in the absence of their top leadership because the two were not the sole funders of the party.
He pointed out that Mr Hichilema and Mr Mwamba were members of the UPND like any other and that the party would still survive in their absence.
Mr Katuka reiterated that it was not the president or the vice-president of the party who ran the everyday errands but him.
He was reacting to former UPND deputy spokesperson Edwin Lifwekelo who claimed that the UPND was in disarray after the incarceration of Mr Hichilema, who he said was using his financial muscle to run the party.
Mr Katuka charged that to the contrary he was the one running the UPND as the chief executive officer and that the party was being funded by its large membership.
“What funding? Funding to do what? We have membership all over the country, and institutions like ours are funded by members. Hakainde is just a member, GBM is just member, just like we are members.
“Even a social club member makes contributions for the club to operate, so if he was the sole funder, and we have a membership of more than 1.2 million who make contributes, we are still able to operate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Katuka castigated Mr Lifwekelo for his allegedly continued attacks against the UPND leadership.
He said that Mr Lifwekelo had continued to demean his former party in the media because he was looking for a job from President Edgar Lungu.
Mr Katuka charged that Mr Lifwekelo was not worth his time and that he could not comment much about him.
