Bbabbi slams ‘sellout’ UPND councillors

WE will continue losing councillors to the PF because most of them were not adopted on merit and are only preoccupied with making a fortune for themselves, Sinazongwe UPND district spokesperson George Bbabbi has said. Mr Bbabbi said the councillors had no heart for the party and instead were busy making a fortune for themselves. Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr Bbabbi said the party leadership must be worried with the rate at which it was losing members. He said the current exodus of members, especially councillors had vindicated some people who had questioned the 2016 adoptions in which credible individuals were overlooked while chancers found themselves as candidates. He however said it was only power-hungry individuals who had no allegiance to the party and their president Hakainde Hichilema who were easily switching camps because they did not know where the party was coming from and how some people almost laid their lives for the UPND to be where it was. He said while people had the right to belong to any party of their choice, the massive exodus of UPND councillors was necessitated by adopting individuals who wanted to make a quick fortune for themselves at the expense of long-serving and loyal members of the party. “There are just people who have no conscience. They don’t bother to know how the UPND has thrived through thick and thin to be where it is today. They have no regard and are not ready to learn from people who almost laid their lives for the party to be where it is and that weak link is from councillors who want to make an easy Hakainde Hichilema fortune for themselves at any slightest opportunity, “For me, when I look at the massive numbers of our councillors joining the PF, it shows that complaints from some members that the adoption process for candidates in 2016 was marred with corruption where some people were adopted on patronage basis and not credibility, could be true,” he said He knew there were tough-tested councillors out there but from the numbers that had betrayed UPND, it was clear that the party had more bad eggs who were preoccupied with enriching themselves. He challenged the councillors to take deep introspection of what they were doing and realise that they would not have been sought after if the UPND did not give them the chance to stand on its ticket and win. “Those councillors should realise that without the party adopting them, they would not have been where they are today. The same way they are ditching the party today will be the same way they will be dumped once those courting them achieve their objective, “If they cannot pay allegiance to the party leadership and its constitution, how then will they adhere to the leadership and constitution of another party?” he asked.