the Journalists
HH is free to contest presidential elections for as many times as he wishes because the party constitution allows him to do so, says general secretary Stephen Katuka.
Mr Katuka said the UPND constitution permitted Mr Hichilema to contest in general elections for an indefinite period.
Mr Katuka said in accordance with article 79 of the UPND constitution, Mr Hichilema was eligible to contest any election that could come at any time.
In a statement dated September 22, 2016, Mr Katuka argued that the UPND constitution did not put any limit on the term of office for the UPND presidency.
He said article 79 states that ” A person shall be eligible for election for an indefinite period subject to this constitution provided that a party President who is elected Republican president shall only serve two terms that shall run concurrently with the term of office as Republican President. Therefore, HH is eligible to contest any election that can come at any time. After all he managed to win the presidency in the August 11, 2016 elections which all normal Zambians know that it was stolen from him and the UPND,” he said.
Mr Katuka was responding to UPND former deputy spokesperson Edwin Lifwekelo who told the Daily Nation in an exclusive interview that Mr Hichilema was not eligible to contest the 2021 general elections.
The former deputy spokesperson told the Daily Nation that according to the UPND constitution, Mr Hichilema does NOT qualify to go beyond 2020 as president of the party.
Mr Lifwekelo said article 79 of the UPND constitutional was allegedly amended by a group of lawyers led by Monze Central Member of Parliament Jacob Mwiimbu with the sole purpose of allowing Mr Hichilema to remain at the helm of the party.He said article 79 which Mr Katuka quoted was a clear indication that Mr Hichilema was a dictator who did not want to allow Dr Canisius Banda and Mr Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to challenge him through a convention.
Mr Lifwekelo also warned that if voted into government, the UPND would change the Republican Constitution and introduce a one party state because they had demonstrated the dictatorship at party level.
Last week on Monday, Mr Lifwekelo said he left the two UPND vice-presidents fighting for the presidency before leaving the UPND.“So the infighting in the UPND is real and I think, as it is now, the issue of succession with the view that Mr Hichilema will not stand in 2021.
“The little that I know in the UPND constitution is that HH cannot go beyond 2020. Beyond that, the party’s National Management Committee (NMC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) need to sit down to revise that clause if Mr Hichilema would have to legally contest the 2021 general elections,” Mr Lifwekelo said.
He said as per UPND constitution, Mr Hichilema could not go beyond 2020.Mr Lifwekelo said he was aware that the only possible way for Mr Hichilema to contest the 2021 general elections was through amending their party constitution.
No comment.. Stolen Votes? By who?
OKAY WE ARE BACK!!!!
THE PAIN AND DISAPPOINTMENT FROM THE EVENTS AND RESULTS STEMMING FROM THE JUST ENDED ELECTION IS STILL FRESH. WE CAN NOT BARRY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND AND FORSAKE OUR COUNTRY AND THOSE THAT SUPPORTED,CAMPAIGNED AND ULTIMATELY VOTED FOR CHANGE. SADLY THE RESULT ATLEAST AS IT STANDS THIS FAR IS NOT WHAT WE HOPED FOR. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT WE WILL NOT FOLD. WE WILL PLAY THE HANDS WE HAVE BEEN DELT TO THE VERY END. IF OURS WILL BE A PERPETUAL ROLE IN THE OPPOSITION THEN LET IT BE SO. HOWEVER WE WILL NOT ABANDON OUR LOVE FOR THIS COUNTRY. THE RESULTS OF THE JUST ENDED ELECTION SPEAK TO A GREATER DEVIDE IN OUR NATION. THERE IS A DEVIDE BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL ZAMBIA. THERE IS ALSO A DEVIDE BETWEEN EDUCATED AND NON EDUCATED CITIZENS. WORST OF ALL THERE IS A REGIONAL…
EDUCATED AND NON EDUCATED CITIZENS. WORST OF ALL THERE IS A REGIONAL DEVIDE. THE TASK OF BRIDGING THESE DIVIDES IS UPON US ALL. THIS HOWEVER IS A DISCUSSION FOR ANOTHER DAY. FOR NOW ALL WE CAN SAY IS WE ARE BACK. HARD AS IT MAY SEEM RIGHT NOW, WE SHALL SURVIVE AND PERSEVERE AND ZAMBIA WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST.
MAY GOD BLESS OUR LEADERS AND GRANT THEM WISDOM. MAY GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.
WE ARE BACK!!!!!
NOW TO ADDRESS THE QUESTIONS RAISED IN THE ARTICLE. AS MUCH AS THOSE OF US THAT WANT A BETTER ZAMBIA HAVE COME TO INDENTIFY WITH “HH” AS THE BRAND OF OUR CAUSE AND TO MANY OF US HH IS AND WILL ALWAYS REMAIN OUR HERO, WE WOULD NOT ENTERTAIN CHANGING CONSTITUTION JUST TO ACCOMMODATE HIS CANDIDATURE. DO WE WANT HH TO CONTINUE AS OUR LEADER IN THE HOPE FOR A BETTER ZAMBIA? YOU CAN BET YOUR LAST KWACHA WE DO!!! SO IF THE CONSTITUTION ALLOWS HH TO RUN AGAIN THE HH IT SHALL BE. AT THIS POINT WE BELIEVE THAT THE LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE RESULTS OF THE JUST ENDED ELECTION SHOULD BE PRESENTED AND CONTINUED. EVERY DEMOCRATIC AND LEGAL CHALLENGES SHOULD BE EXPLORED AND IF AT THE END OF IT ALL LUNGU RETAINS POWER, ATLEAST WE WILL KNOW THAT UPND PUT UP A WORTHY FIGHT TO THE END. WHATEVER THE OUTCOME…
WHATEVER THE OUTCOME OF THE LEGAL PROCESS UPND SHOULD HOLD A CONVENTION AND IF HH IS ELIGIBLE TO STAND I SAY HE SHOULD. MILES SAMPA LED US TO UPND AND ABANDONED US HERE AND HERE WE SHALL STAY.
HH IS THE “MANDELA” OF ZAMBIA. AS GOD IS OUR WITNESS ZAMBIA WILL CONTINUE TO SUFFER ECONOMICALLY UNTIL WE ELECT HH AS OUR LEADER!!!! MEANWHILE HH IS NOT THE ONE SUFFERING THE PEOPLE OF ZAMBIA ARE. GOOD LUCK TO THOSE IN POWER NOW AND PLEASE REMEMBER THAT POLITICS SHOULD BE AN ENDEAVOUR TO SERVE. MR LUNGU WE DISAGREE WITH YOUR POLITICS BUT THAT SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED AS HATE!!! NON THE LESS YOU ARE IN CHARGE NOW AND WE WILL MOVE ASIDE AND LET YOU DO YOUR JOB. UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS THE LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC OPPORTUNITY TO CHALLENGE YOU PRESENTS ITSELF AGAIN. GOOD LUCK TO YOU MR LUNGU
AND MAY GOD…
GOOD LUCK TO YOU MR LUNGU
AND MAY GOD BLESS OUR COUNTRY!!
AS FOR THOSE OF US IN UPND WE REMAIN AND CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE LEADERSHIP OF HH!!!!
By your mother Priscilla Isaacs and your father the discredited judge Chulu
Ba Lifwekelo just keep quiet …sometimes its best you dont say anything. You suddenly have an epiphany after leaving the Party immediately after the results …
HH – wamuyaya. No convention is required in UPND. basically the constitution says HH should be their leader indefinitely. Conclude for yourselves. For want of democracy.
Therein lies the problem Mr Katuka. How can you have a wamuyayaya President? Does that mean even the NMC members are also wamuyayaya? So elections within the UPND are out of the question altogether? Mr Katuka, can you please answer these questions?
The philosophy of wamuyayaya,that is all it is. They worship this guy for the money he scummed and oh,let’s not forget a tonga for the tonga,s
@NIgga . THE FACT THAT HH IS TONGA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR SUPPORT FOR HIM. MANY OF US SUPPORT HH AND GBM AND PEOPLE LIKE MILUPI BECAUSE THEY ARE ACCOMPLISHED BUSINESS PEOPLE. ZAMBIA NEEDS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION ONE THAT WILL BE LED BY ACCOMPLISHED BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC PEOPLE. POPOLARISM THOUGH IT CREATES A FEELING OF IDENTITY DOES NOT ALWAYS RESULT IN ECONOMIC PROSPERITY. HOWEVER WE WILL NOT LABOR TO ARGUE THAT OUR POSITIONS ARE BASED ON POLICY. THE LEARNED DR BANDA PUT SO WELL NOT TOO LONG AGO- “THE UPND ECONOMIC REVOLUTION SHOULD BE ACHIEVED AT THE BALLOT” ITS HARD TO ARGUE THAT THIS LAST ELECTION WAS DECISIVELY WON BY EITHER PARTY. THAT IS NOT A MANDATE FOR A REVOLUTION. UPND IS CHALLENGING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION EVEN IF THE CASE IS PROVEN THAT INDEED THE IRREGULARITIES IN…
…UPND IS CHALLENGING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION EVEN IF THE CASE IS PROVEN THAT INDEED THE IRREGULARITIES IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WERE FRAUDULENT, HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THE PATTERNS IN THE PARLIAMENTARY RESULTS? THE TRUTH IS POPULARISM HAS TAKEN ROOT IN OUR COUNTRY. THE INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE MEANT TO SAFEGUARD OR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS LUCK CREDIBILITY. FROM THE ECZ TO THE COURTS. ITS ALL JUST BECOME A CIRCUS. THAT BEING NOTED LUNGU IS IN CHARGE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PROSPERITY NOW LIES IN HIS HANDS UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS THE REALITY IS DIFFERENT WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT. WE ARE REALISTS, PRAGMATISTS AND IDEALISTS. OUR DIFFERENCES WITH PF ARE BASED ON POLICY. OUR SUPPORT FOR UPND IS BASED ON IDEAS.
You mean to tell me that no one in the UPND is logical or smart enough to be their president? Of the 48 MPs that UPND now has, none of them is presidential material? Okay.
Haaaaaaaa, but chaps speaks at cross purpose here. No one cares how many times HH contests Presidential elections. What does your constitution say about Party President Elections, and Conventions! That’s what we are puzzled by. How can you say you are Democratic Party when you have a leader whom no one in UPND can oppose, challenge without suspension? How can you want to front a Presidential candidate when UPND cannot show it understands Democracy? Why shout and scream in courts about your democratic rights to a fair election when you do not use democratic means to select your President. Surely Zambians are correct to worry you will bring your habits to national Gov’t?!
Sata was able to do so while his constitution did not allow for that. The upnd constitution allows for this and the entire party agrees with this so what’s the vundu
@NEZ,it’s about UPND’s credibility as a bonafida party in a Democratic system. If you cannot demonstrate it in your policies and structures, you should not be allowed to run for OP.
If sata did that and it was wrong, do you go on to do the very wrong?
HH is UPND and UPND is HH. In UPND, forget about democracy
Ba Nez mulichikopo. How can you claim that Sata had no convention? Are you serious? Check your facts. PF has a convention before August 2011 and all positions were subjected to votes. Your tribalism in your party has blinded you.
And assuming Sata did it according to NEZ does it make it right? Two wrongs do not make a right. What is kumulu ni Lesa panshi in UPND is HH as UNIP was to KK.
So because mere chibs and senior engineer prefer a convention then the entire upnd needs to go against its constitution and force people to reelect hh? If you have upnd presidential ambition then join the party and then fight to persuade people you are a better leader than hh. Numbers don’t lie bane.
NEZ. Change the constitution. It is a recipe for dictatorship. At least there was a façade or a semblance of democracy in UNIP because it had its Mulungushi conferences where people on paper were free to challenge KK although the outcome of the election was not in doubt. Kavindele tried but chickened out. Yes numbers do not lie. HH had 49% or so according to ECZ but a miss by an inch is as good as by a mile. Zesco would have still bowed out had they lost by just one zero.
I quote …”which all normal Zambians know that it was stolen from him and the UPND”, end of quote. This means those of us Zambians that who think otherwise are abnormal, in other words mad and senseless. Ba Katuka, this is the type of language or rather words that are making your party unpopular. Don’t the people from whom you want a vote. In the 50+1 arrangement, every vote counts. It is just an observation and advise. If you want continue your foul language.
Simple, Upnd cannot survive without HH bankrolling it. Now he’s hired GBM to assist with financing while pauper Cannicius Banda whose only contribution has been shown the door. Simply put Upnd is not a grassroots party so it can only depend on tycoons like GBM for money not the masses.
Dictators!!!
THIS IS VERY GOOD NEWS FOR US IN PF, SO THAT UPND CAN CONTINUE LOSING AND LOSING AND LOSING AND LOSING! SOON UPND WILL BE IN OBLIVION, PART OF HISTORY! VIVA UPND! ALUTA CONTINUA WITH LOSING WITH YOUR HH!
This party is not inviting at all to join. It looks like there are only two people with the rights to dreams, GBM and HH. Is it because of poverty that you can not have limits to the number of trials at the helm of the party? Am sure without him there shall be NO UPND, full stop.
THIS UNDER FIVE CHAP CAN BE HEAD OF THE COWSHEAD PARTY FOR AS LONG AS HE LIKES. HE CAN NEVER BE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA, EVEN IF ALL THE COWS, DONKEYS, CHICKENS AND PEOPLE VOTED IN TONGALAND AS THEY DID, IT NEVER WORKED. THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND THIS UNDER FIVE HAKAVOTELA HEKA. THE WORLD IS A BIGGER PLACE. UPND IS A TRIBAL PARTY.. SAKWIBA SIKOTA AND PATRICK CHISANGA ARE LIVING TESTIMONIES OF THIS FACT. THEY WERE HOUNDED OUT OF UPND BY TONGAS CALLING THE TWO MEN FOREIGNERS….. WHAT A SHAME, BA FIKAAALAAA TWAMAKATEKE. MUKATEKA KU DUNDUMWEZI MUBE IBOOOLOOOOO
What a party! Not appealing at all!
HH has come a long way and he is popular to Zambian people. He won the August general elections but the opposition stole the votes and his Victory. Why would he step down as if he lost when he actually won the August 2016 elections with a wider margin? The ruling party took advantage because all machinery belongs to them and Lungu was controlling ECZ to help him rig. If HH steps down UPND will be finished. HH has tried to build the party to the extent of winning the elections only because they were stolen. Those who are talking about HH are just scared of him. Mind your own business in your party us it HH only.