My ejection has fragmented UPND - GBM

“The defections triggered by my ejection from UPND has made them very weak. In any political party, we have a mentor that we follow.’’

UPND has become a fragile and fragmented party after ejecting me because they were riding on my popularity, former UPND vice president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba has said.

And Mr. Mwamba said UPND president Hakainde Hichilema’s decision to hound him out of the party using national management committee members had boomeranged right in his face through massive defections.

Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr. Mwamba said the collapse of the UPND in the Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt, and Muchinga was a sign of “birth pangs” as a hurricane awaits the party even in Southern Province.

“The defections triggered by my ejection from UPND has made them very weak. In any political party, we have a mentor that we follow.

“We don’t just follow blindly because it is a political party. No matter how vibrant a party can be, there are always people who members believe in who they follow.

“They are now saying I am buying people to defect but these people are not even defectors. I am just taking them where they belong.

“I found them in PF and they have also decided, just like I did, to go back to where they belong. They followed me but they have now realised that after I left, there was no more inspirational leadership,” Mr. Mwamba said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mwamba said he still had two years and four months to finish off the UPND, including its strongholds such as Southern Province as people across the country have started calling him to go and visit their areas so that they could officially defect.

“Mr. Hichilema, using the 75 national management committee members to pass a vote of no confidence and hound me out of the party for fear of my popularity, miscalculated everything because that decision has boomeranged on him and they are yet to suffer even more. “UPND is yet to see the worst defections it has ever witnessed in the history of this country. For our own information, I have support even in Southern Province and people are calling me to go there so that they can officially defect and I will go there. “I have two years and four months to dismantle the UPND and this is very good time in politics. It is good for the PF because the UPND will continue suffering massive defections,’’ he said.