Mufumbwe UPND member of parliament Elliot Kamondo says Hakainde Hichilema always tells his MPs that they are free to challenge him.

And Choma UPND member of parliament Cornelius Mweetwa says all UPND MPs are solidly behind Hichilema.

In an interview, Monday, Kamondo said Hichilema was not averse to competition.

“As UPND actually we are very solid and we are supporting president Hakainde Hichilema who we strongly feel he is the best. If at all there are some (members of the parliament who want to challenge him), I can tell you that there is no one who has shown any interest. It’s not that he has employed himself but he has always asked the people if at all there are some that are interested, because UPND is a democratic party and he is in the fore front to make sure that democracy prevails,” said Kamondo.

“I want to say that currently, I have not heard of anyone who has showed interest if they are there, they have not yet come out and president Hakainde Hichilema has always encouraged any of us that if there is someone who wants to take that position to challenge him, he stood his part but fortunately, at this point, we feel he is the best candidate and all of us actually we have agreed and as MPs, we are supporting president Hakainde. In fact last week we had a caucus where he was actually asking and inviting anyone else to go for the convention and we are ready for that.”

And in a separate interview, Mweetwa said speculation that some UPND MPs were plotting against Hichilema was false.

“That is not true! That information is false. There is no single MP who wants to challenge HH that is not true. All the MPs, as far as I know, they are supporting him and he is supporting them also, that is completely untrue,” said Mweetwa.