WE WON’T BEND TO EXTERNAL FORCES - KATUKA
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) will not bend to external forces who want to control and determine how the party is run, secretary general Stephen Katuka has said.
Mr Katuka said the party would not bend to external forces who wanted to give guidance on how the party leadership should deal with its Members of Parliament.
Some stakeholders like Young African Leaders Initiative, Bishops Council of Zambia, Government Deputy Chief Whip Tutwa Ngulube, and Political Analyst Alex Ng’oma, among others, have advised UPND to allow its MPs to exercise their Constitution rights to debate on the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) resolutions.
Recently party spokesperson Charles Kakoma said the party leadership would discipline MPs that would back the resolutions.
Stakeholders said it was an offence to threaten MPs as they would be abrogating the principles of Parliament.
But the UPND secretary general said the party leadership
He said responsible line ministries had not only failed to protect local industries but had also failed to create appetite for more Zambians to go into agriculture by giving incentives to small scale, emerging, and commercial farmers to help them produce more.
He said despite the country having a readymarket from its eight neighbours which were land-linked to Zambia, such opportunities had not been exploited thereby making the diversification a farfetched idea.
“With an in ux of smuggled, misclassified, would not operate through instructions by outsiders.
He said the party leadership had a discretion to act on erring MPs adding that the party would instead take drastic measures against MPs who defied the instructions.
“As a party we have rules on which we operate on, so we can’t be controlled by outsiders
If we decide to discipline those who do not adhere to our instructions, people cannot start condemning us,” he said.
Meanwhile Katuka said the party leadership would look into the concerns from the stakeholders.
Mr Katuka said the leadership would ensure that the matter was given the attention it deserved. nation that the UPND will soon vanish. It will not go anywhere. Seriously speaking, I don’t see that party making any progress,” and under-declared products which are not only chocking the local industries and local farmers, diversification will only remain on paper. We have very good policies which if implemented can improve the sector but these have remained documents which have made no significant impact.
“We should have drawn lessons on the effects of depending on diminishing resources looking at the turbulences in the mining sector but we don’t seem to be moving towards realising the target we have put for ourselves,” Mr. Tonga said.
he said.
“Some of us have closely worked with Mr Hichilema and that kind of attitude cannot lead the party to any glory.”
Maj Kachingwe said the UPND was a wasted investment and those who were funding it were just putting their resources in water.
He said if Mr Hichilema had been humble and able to embrace new ideas the party would have been in power a long time ago.
Maj Kachingwe said the party was diminishing because of the arrogance being exhibited by its leader.
“Party members have seen for themselves how he has been behaving towards his former vice presidents or officials who wanted to bring change in the party.
What people should know is that he thinks people who come with good ideas want to hijack his position,” he said.
He said there was need to come up with incentives that will make existing farmers produce more while attracting new entrants to increase productivity in the area.
“The youths who still have the energy to work are shunning the sector because they are not seeing any benefits. If farmers are given incentives to be productive and ensure that the bulky of their produce is bought and paid for at the point of exchange, a lot more people will go into agriculture.
“Products such as beef, pork, and milk from as far as urope are finding market in Zambia. Why can’t we make our farmers more competitive so that they can mop up local market and explore foreign markets? We need to do a lot to make agriculture or economic mainstay,” Mr Tonga said.