By Kwacha Celebrity Newspaper

United Party for National Development(UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema insists that his name will continue appearing on the Presidential ballot paper until he is voted into office so that he can offers alternative leadership to what he termed Chipantepante rule of the Patriotic Front(PF) regime.
And Elijah Ngwale has warned the UPND against going for a General Assembly as the occusion can be infutriated by the PF who might risk jeopatising Hichilema’s ambitions to rule Zambia because as it stands, he is the only Tonga who is popular enough to break the jinx that a son of Southern Province will not rule Zambia.
But Young African Leadership Initiative(YALI) Executive Director Andrew Nthewewe says Hichilema’s statement that he will continue contesting elections for as long as the constitution allows him is misplaced and an assault on democracy.
Meanwhile, Hichilema has refused to move on to the next phase, until the 2016 Presidential Election Petition is heard and the electoral disputes are resolved.
Speaking when he rarely appeared on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation(ZNBC) Sunday Interview, Hichilema said he will continue contesting elections as long as the Patriotic Front(PF) does not improve its human right abuse record and provide Zambians improve the agriculture that feeds the people.
He added that as long as most Zambians are living in abject poverty, he will not stop contesting elections.
The UPND leader was reacting to presenter Grevazio Zulu who wanted to know when he will leave power to someone else in the party to contest after suffering five defeats.
“I am laughing at you Grevazio, I am laughing at you because you can’t exhibit such kind of ignorance…because In my 11 years tenure in charge of UPND, we have had two General Assemblies. In UPND, we call it General Assembly and not convention. So I don’t know what you mean that I have held on to power. So, I am laughing at your lack of knowledge. How many elections have we had in the UPND since I took over, we have had two elections. Let us go to the next question,” he said.
But Zulu insisted that Hichilema should step aside and allow someone else with fresh blood to take over the party leadership and contest the 2021 elections.
At this point, Hichilema said:” You have hanged on on to that issue, I can see that you are emotionally attached to that issue. Can I answer this way. As long as you have a government that does not respect the rule of law, as long as you have a government that does not respect human right liberties, as long as you have a Government that encourages violence by abusing the police through the Public Order Act(POA), we should allow contestation of Presidency as long as the Constitution allows citizens, so that we can offer economic policies. Allow us to give our children education and that is what we want,” he said.
At this point, Zulu interjected and asked Hichilema whether he will continue being at the helm of UPND if things remain the same in the running affairs of the country.
Hichilema responded in the affirmative.
“As long long as you are keeping Agriculture in a manner it is, where you are giving farmers low prices of maize, when the cost of fertilizer and seeds are too high and you risk the country going into a hunger situation. As long as you basically continue with the corruption where you steal US$ 700, 000 from fire tenders, when the cost of fire tenders is US$300,000, you buy them at US$1,000 000, wasting money you are supposed to invest in Agriculture, health and education…as long as you build a road from Lusaka to Ndola at the cost of US$1.2 million then citizens will continue contesting the elections. In the UPND, we will be holding the General Assembly and everyone is free to challenge for presidency ,” the UPND leader said.
And Ngwale said Hichilema should be allowed to contest the 2021 elections because he remains the most popular in the party.
He said Hichilema has made UPND relevant to Zambian politics because of his moral and financial support.
“Hakainde has done a lot for the UPND. You know political parties in Zambia in particular and Africa in general are funded by individuals. From the time Hichilema took over the leadership of UPND, he has heavily sponsored the party and has put himself on the map but off course with the help of others,” Ngwale said.
The Political Scientist said if he were an adviser of the UPND, he could have cautioned them against going for a planned General Assembly because it may be infutriated by the PF and that may disadvantage Hichilema.
“If UPND held a National Assembly, it will be infutriated by PF and other people to make Hichilema fail. I wouldn’t like Hichilema to fail,” he said.
Ngwale said it is only Hichilema capable of proving wrong some people who say Tongas will not lead Zambia.
“There is a saying that aba Tonga tabakatekepo(Tongas will never rule Zambia) now if a Bemba or Ngoni takes over leadership of the UPND and wins the elections they will be saying that ‘we told you that Tongas will never rule Zambia’, so let Hichilema continued,” he stated.
But Nthewewe said Hichilema is not a some sort of a god of UPND for him to continue standing for elections for as long as he praises.
He said if Hichilema can demonstrate such kind of dictatorship when in opposition what more could it be if he is elected President of the Republic of Zambia.
“Hichilema’s statement is an assult on democracy in that democracy is defined as the rule of the people and for the people and it is the people that set the agenda and not ones selfish aspiration. We have been advocating that the term of office for party presidents should be two terms. We are disappointed that in most of the political parties have never held a convention,” Nthewewe said.
Meanwhile, Former Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zambia Chairperson Henry Kabwe has paid special tribute to ZNBC for featuring Hichilema on the Sunday, ending speculation that the National Broadcaster give opposition leader black out.
“I would like to take this opportunity to commend the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) for featuring the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema. The public broadcaster exhibited professionalism and fairness by this gesture and provided a firm foundation for true reconciliation and unity in this country. As a public broadcaster owned by the Zambian people who contribute to its running whether
something to smile about as media activists,” he said.
And Hichilema said he will not rest until the Presidential petition is heard.
He said the party will not move on until the 2016 electoral disputes are resolved.
” We shouldn’t play with semantics here. Let us not play with words like you have to move on, Moving on, going where? Because this country should be governed on the basis of rule of law,” Hichilema said.
Asked whether he is convinced that he won the President elections with only 34 percent of the number of Member of Parliaments, representing four provinces, Hichilema said what matters for one to be elected President are numbers of votes they poll.
“My friend, I did not stand as an MP but as a Presidential Candidate. And on Presidential level, we won Southern, North- Western and Western Provinces. We also won Lusaka and Copperbelt rural,” Hichilema said, “It doesn’t matter how many Provinces you win. We have examples of Presidential candidates who have become Presidents after winning four provinces… Late Michael Sata is a typical example. He won Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt and Lusaka Provinces,” Hichilema said