Fighting Bill 10 lost cause – UPND official

THE vigour with which we are shooting down Bill 10 must be redirected towards preparations for holding a convention or we us forget about forming Government in 2021, a UPND official has said. And the official, who refused to be named for fear of being victimised, said attempts to shoot down Bill 10 was work in futility because some of the UPND MPs were fed up with the party’s bulldozing antics on national affairs. The insider told the Daily Nation that it was retrogressive that instead of wasting time preparing for the convention to bring in leaders who could steer the party to victory in 2021, the UPND was preoccupied with fighting Government. The source said party members were in the dark over the convention as the matter was not even discussed in the inner circle yet time was running out. “The only thing preoccupying most of our leaders is shooting down the Bill 10 yet we are failing to put our house in order. If we attached the importance we are showing on shooting down Bill to reorganising the party ahead of the 2021 elections, we would be doing well. “The only problem we have in our party is that very few people can speak and be listened to. Decisions that we are making are not from a consultative process. They are simply imposed on us and we have to accept them the way they are without question but some of us are now getting tired,” the source said. And the source said Bill 10 will pass whether his party liked it or not because some MPs were getting fed up with the party’s decisions on certain issues. “Shooting down Bill 10 is a lost cause and if our leaders have eyes, what happened in Parliament on Tuesday must send chills down their spines because, just like some MPs refused to be intimidated over participating at the NDF, they will vote for the bill,” the source said. “What is of prime importance right now is the convention because that is the only way we will reorganise the party ahead of elections. The convention must be treated as an emergency because after that, there will be casualties hence the need for those who won’t make it to heal and reconcile,” the source said. Efforts to get a comment from party secretary general Stephen Katuka over concerns raised on the convention proved futile as his phone went unanswered.