MWALITETA FUMES

By Kalobwe Bwalya

ANY United Party for National Development (UPND) cadre who will be found engaging in any form of violence will not be spared but will be handed over to the police for the due process of the law to take its course, Lusaka Province party chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta has warned.

In an interview with The Scoop, Mr. Mwaliteta admitted that it was worrying the party to see some suspected UPND cadres still engaging in violence among other illicit activities despite repeated warning by party leaders that President Hakainde Hichilema detested violence and lawlessness.

He said the party will not shield anyone who would engage in violence because that was criminal and should not be supported.

He revealed that he could not believe that despite the warning from the Head of State and some senior party officials, there were some disgruntled elements that still embraced the violence which was the order of the day under the Patriotic Front (PF) reign.

He appealed to the police to do their job diligently and impartially by bringing any offenders to book regardless of which party they belonged to and not to wait until President Hichilema demanded for action from them, saying the ruling party had made its position clear on the matter and does not expect to see those involved in lawlessness going unpunished.

“Anyone that will be found engaging themselves in any violence will be arrested as directed by the President because we cannot be talking about the same thing of violence every day. This should come to an end and those who continue to pay a deaf ear to what the President and the party leadership is saying must be arrested and taken to court,” Mr. Mwaliteta warned.

He admitted that there had been a spate of violence in some areas of Lusaka where members of the public had indicated that it was the UPND cadres who were beating and attacking innocent citizens but said such people must be arrested.

He explained that UPND populace consisted of respected citizens who believed in peace and unity and that those disgruntled individuals who were in the habit of disrupting peace and wanted to engage in thuggery behaviour will not be entertained.

“It is primitive to continuously exhibit thuggery and criminality behaviour which the Government in power does not subscribe to. Therefore, any bad seed will soon be flashed out to restore peace and sanity in the country,” he added.