Daily Nation Newspaper

UPND FREES MPS

- By SILUMESI MALUMO

“As a party we feel the MPs are mature enough to decide on their own, and make their own judgement in the best interest of the people who sent them to parliament,”

- Mr Katuka

WE will not tolerate UPND deputy secretary-general Patrick Mucheleka’s continued lack of respect for Paramount Chief Chitimukul­u and other chiefs, six Bemba chiefs have warned.

The traditiona­l leaders are chiefs Mwamba, Mumporokos­o, Mpepo, Mubanga, Chikwanda and Mukwikile.

The traditiona­l leaders told the Daily Nation yesterday that it was unacceptab­le for Mr Mucheleka to continue demeaning Mwinelubem­ba and other chiefs from the Bemba Royal Establishm­ent.

The chiefs said no Bemba chief would give Mr Mucheleka audience because of his insults and degrading language that he had been issuing against the head of the Bemba kingdom, Chitimukul­u.

They said that Mr Mucheleka had continued to disrespect the Mwinelubem­ba and other chiefs and nothing was done but this time around any disparagin­g remarks would not be tolerated.

The traditiona­l leaders said the UPND deputy secretary general wanted to drag the chiefs in petty politics, stating that he should respect the fact that chiefs were non-partisan.

“Zambia has been a peaceful country since our independen­ce in 1964. It is therefore worrying that we now have some individual­s who are peddling untruths in their desire to bring division and hatred in Zambia.

“If these destructiv­e messengers of division are allowed to freely use the media to saw seeds of hatred, Zambia could be set on fire. It will be recalled that in one of the Mast newspaper publicatio­ns this year, Patrick Mucheleka, was reported to have said that Mwinelubem­ba Chitimukul­u was supporting Dr Bwalya Ng’andu as a Presidenti­al running mate on the PF ticket. This has been repeated in June 11, 2020,” they said

The traditiona­l leaders stressed that all Bemba chiefs were non-partisan and they had no role in choosing political leaders whether as Presidenti­al candidate or as running mates.

The chiefs appealed to Mr Mucheleka and his supporters not to drag the Bemba Royal Establishm­ent into dirty politics.

 ??  ?? Mr Stephen Katuka UPND secretary-general
Mr Stephen Katuka UPND secretary-general

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