Thursday, March 28, 2024

Heavy Police Presence Characterizes UPND Defection Meeting in Kalulushi

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There was a heavy Police presence at a United Party for National Development meeting where UPND Copperbelt chairman Elisha Matambo received the defectors from the former ruling Patriotic Front(PF) in Kalulushi, which included former Kalulushi Mayor, Rashida Mulenga.

This followed threats from UPND youths who had warned that they will not allow Mr. Matambo to proceed with the meeting. The Youths had posted a video that had gone viral on social media showing suspected UPND members in Kalulushi district threatening to disrupt the said meeting.

Earlier, Police on the Copperbelt warned UPND youths against their intentions to disrupt a meeting in Kalulushi district, with Copperbelt police commissioner Tresphord Kasale saying the police is on the ground to ensure law and order and that whoever tries to cause confusion at any lawful gathering will be dealt with accordingly.

At the meeting Mr. Matambo defended his move to receive defectors saying that it is important to grow UPN on the Copperbelt and make it strong, adding that the people making noise about the meeting were not even in the structures of the party and the defection meeting was organized by the people in the structures of the party.

Mr. Matambo said that he was just invited to officiate at the meeting and added that he will not be scared and will continue to receive new members to make the UPND stronger.

Mr. Matambo said that he was receiving the defectors with the full party structures in the district and added that even the president was aware of what was happening in Kalulushi

Meanwhile, ministry of information and media spokesperson Thabo Kawana has charged that the days of cadres conducting themselves above the law are gone as the new dawn government has demonstrated the political will to curb the vice.

Reacting to a video circulating on social media of purported UPND cadres proposing violence in Kalulushi, Mr. Kawana said that it remains the government’s expectation that the police command in Kalulushi will move in and bring the culprits to book for threatening violence.

In a statement, Mr. Kawana said that previously, police failed to act on cadre violence and threatening violence because there was no political will but the current government has demonstrated political will to curb caderism at the highest level with the president being consistent with the call to end caderism in all forms and from all public places.

23 COMMENTS

  1. Violence should not be condoned but what Upnd is doing is retrogressive and the Youths have reason to get worried. Some of the defectors are engaged in illegal businesses (jarobos) and the reason for their siding with the Upnd is to protect themselves from law enforcement. Elisha Matambo knows them and I am surprised he has to waste government resources to travel all the way from Ndola, through Kitwe to Kalulushi. These people have always sided with the party in power…. which of bread is buttered.

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  2. Very disappointing. This is the UPND using PF tactics that they despised in the past. That’s a sure way to lose voters that just came your way. Bally, time to intervene!

  3. Come in numbers, the doors are open, We will be scrutinizing you from inside. UPND is formidable, that’s why the two local government elections held in the past week were all scooped by UPND including one in Milenge, Luapula province

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  4. Never in the history of zambia have we seen such. They are fighting amongst themselves and using public resources on their personal internal party fights m disgusting

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  5. #9 According to records this lady left PF before the 2021 elections. I’m told she was not adopted so she stood as independent and campaigned for HH. From what I know she was badly beaten at the polls, she petitioned and lost again. If I were you I would ask this question SUPPOSE SHE WAS ADOPTED AND WON WAS SHE GOING TO JUMP SHIP? WHAT IS THE MAIN REASON FOR JOINING UPND? IS IT BECAUSE PF WERE CORRUPT? IF THEY WERE CORRUPT WHY DID SHE WANT TO STAND ON PF TICKET AND HOW CLEAN IS SHE HERSELF? With such characters Upnd may eventually end up like PF, mark my words.

  6. Nifusenko, what value do PF defectors bring to the UPND? The UPND won last year’s election overwhelmingly, they didn’t need the PF then, and surely they don’t need them now.
    On the other side of the coin, what do the PF defectors stand to gain from working with the UPND?
    The UPND has proven to be as lawless as the PF, and embracing the same PF isn’t helping their image.
    Let us sanitise our politics, imagine the joy we would have if the UPND categorically refused to receive defectors. Let those people find other things to do.

  7. Another one who stood on Independent ticket because PF did not adopt her…she took on Kalulushi Parliamentary ticket against her arch-rival and former slay queen friend Kampampa Mulenga. Kampampa collected 18,677 against Rashida’s 17,713…it was very close, these two hate each other so much that Kampampa no class as is the case with PF mocked her rival for the loss. This is why UPND were falling all over themselves for Rashida as she has a lot of support in that part of CB.

  8. kci – You can not talk about Rashida without talking about PF and you can not talk Kampampa Mulenga without talking about Rashida.

  9. Elections are over and every effort should be made to unite Zambians for common good. No one should be left behind in the new emancipatory agenda against violence, ignorance, poverty and disease. The institutionalized divisiveness that characterized yester years should be a thing of the past. Zambians are one people, united by common aspirations to prosper and live decently.

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  10. Defectors can come but don’t give them positions at the expense of those who suffered and toiled to bring the party into power. This is what is bringing the animosity against the so called defectors.

  11. Razor – a defector like Rashida with numbers who lost by a very slim margin does not defect without gaurantees…you know these people do not believe in any ideologies its whoever is going to give them a job and revenue streams. Its the same with those boys who won in Eastern Province had they lost they would have defected. She left PF because she was not adopted…she will do the same no questions when she doesnt have her way.

  12. Do you know what it means to say:whoever tries to cause confusion at any lawful gathering will be dealt with accordingly? It implies thatwhoever tries to cause confusion at any unlawful gathering will not be dealt with.

  13. WRONG MOVE UPND Please stop this nonsense. You can make the Party strong just with the Youth. These are the same people who brought MMD and PF down. Who even allowed this Rubbish is the biggest f.o.ol in UPND. The Youth are right.

  14. THE PRINCE – Exactly …just look at RB’s people in Eastern Province the Vincent Mwales , Dora and Co, they are quietly watching playing it safe whilst PF crumbles to the ground.

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