United Party for National Development (UPND) Namwala member of Parliament Robby Chizyuka says his party president Hakainde Hichilema is scared of holding a convention because he knows that he will be voted out of office.
Major Chizyuka said Mr Hichilema can never make the UPND win the 2011 elections hence his clinging on to power as party president.
He noted that the UPND is being lead by a leader who cannot cross any bridge because he is unpopular.
He said it is very sad that the party leadership has decided not to hold the convention ahead of the 2011 elections because five years have elapsed.
Maj. Chizyuka accused Mr Hichilema of adopting Mr Sata’s tactics.
“It is unfortunate that HH has adopted king cobra’s undemocratic manners by refusing to hold a convention,” Maj. Chizyuka said.
He said it is the tradition of UPND to hold elections every five years and that defying the party’s constitution will set a bad precedence.
He said UPND is not a personal kantemba (kiosk) because it was founded by people who respected the tradition of holding conventions.
Maj. Chizyuka said Zambia should be wary of leaders like Mr Hichilema and Mr Sata because they have the ability to change the constitution to suit their interests.
PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba recently announced that the party convention has been set for October this year.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
UPND version of Mpombo in Maj Chizhyuka on the offensive.HH should have first test his internal popularity before going external.Its like he has imposed himself on the UPND as a candidate for 2011.Now if he thinks Sata will let him be the candidate for the Pact like the way UNIP and FDD did in the UDA,then he is in for a rude shock!!
:):d:d:d
Chizyuka is another MMD cadre.What a useless creature:d:d:d:d/
Hon Chizyuka although we agree that conventions are means of attaining democracy, and the party may have failed us on this one. HH would still have been picked at the convention and lead the party in 2011, there is no better man in the party than this lad. You and HH should sort out your personal differences and work to strengthen our party.
Frightened little men 🙁
HH booted out the rightful heir to the throne upon the demise of AKM.
This has since haunted his party by having popular vote only in a few selective areas unlike AKM who was accepted country wide.
In the US & UK, we hold conventions first so that we pick the best candidate. Once chosen, we then go to the general election & campaign from the ground up. The best from our parties leads the campaign and the race gets very hot on issue based debates.
How will the likes of Gary Nkombo ever expose their ability to lead UPND is they are never given a chance to do so? Many say Gary is far more intelligent than HH and has much greater convincing skill.
Conventions are a necessity for political parties to develop and mutate. If you keep the old wigs going forever, the young will abandon ship and form new parties of their own which will fragment support.
As we speak, McCain has retired from leading the Reps whilst Brown has resigned as leader of the Labour party.
This is democracy!
HH is just fearing people like prof Chirwa. I can bet on this blog that HH will not bother having conventions in UPND b’coz he may not be voted as party president after losing three General elections & now giving into Pact with PF. This is his down fall. 😉
Ba “HH” and ba Mudala ba “Sata”,please show us maturity and democracy ideologies by holding a conventions,before we can subject you to the big one in 2011.
Let Chizyuka organise funds for a Convention and am sure HH will go there. The problem is that we’ve bafoons like Chizyuka and #7 (Mangelepa) that are so busy talking about holding Convention can not even put in a Single Kwacha towards holding it. Conventions cost money which our Colleagues in the UPND need to channel towards defeating monkeys like Chizyuka in bye Elections at this stage. Remember they have no financiers
I find it rather interesting that no major political party has held a convention thus far. With less than a year go to the polls, is it likely that the MMD, UNPD and PF can adopt different candidates? If not, it certainly begs the question why are conventions only held at the last minute? Why are conventions not planned well in advance let alone conducted in a free and pair atmosphere? I believe our failure to up hold governance systems is testimony of our collective inability to provide leadership at all levels on society. This is the cancer at the core of our underdevelopment and it earnestly needs to be rooted out!
On ““It is unfortunate that HH has adopted king cobra’s undemocratic manners by refusing to hold a convention,” Maj. Chizyuka said… He said it is the tradition of UPND to hold elections every five years and that defying the party’s constitution will set a bad precedence… He said UPND is not a personal kantemba (kiosk) because it was founded by people who respected the tradition of holding conventions” and bearing in the last time the mighty UPND Group held a convention, I believe president HH’s term ends in about August 2011 elections a time when it will be too late to usher in a new team to contest tripartite elections that may be held before or after August 2011.
Hence, UPND’s decision to hold its convention in 2012 is very visionary and best.
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Matt…
So will there be a convention when choosing between Sata or HH or is this the last we are hearing about conventions?