NO EARLY POLLS, UPND HAS PERFORMED WELL - HH

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says there will be no early election in Zambia because UPND has performed exceptionally well in the last two and half years it has been in government.

He said more would be achieved if the party was given a second term.

Mr Hichilema however said the opposition had regrouped and claim that there was shrinking democratic space in the country when it was expanding.

He said under the UPND administration, people were able to form alliances and say whatever they wanted to but still accuse the government of being undemocratic.

Mr Hichilema said the democratic space had expanded as it could be seen in the various by-elections that the country had which were peaceful and free of violence. “The opposition has enough space, the opposition are free to go and campaign even in the areas that are having by-elections which was not there in the past, for me I was not able to campaign the airspace was blocked, I couldn’t fly anywhere,” he said.

And Mr Hichilema said the UPND was ready to face the newly formed alliance in the battle field.

Mr Hichilema said the party fought so hard to be in power therefore it will not be easy to displace it.

The President said the UPND would ensure that it puts up a good fight.

He was saying this when he officially opened the UPND national headquarters in Lusaka which had been named after the founding leader Anderson Kambela Mazoka.

Meanwhile, Mr Hichilema said the party would continue strengthening its structures across the country to grow the membership.

He welcomed Mr Frank Bwalya who had left the Socialist Party last year, and Mr Patrick Samwimbila from the Patriotic Front among the notables that joined the party.

Mr Hichilema also said it had been the party’s desire to own property across the country as it would make it easier to mobilise and put in place a strong system.

He said by the end of April, all the provincial UPND offices would be opened so that the party could hit the ground running.