SESHEKE UPND member of parliament Romeo Kang’ombe says he resigned from being a member of the opposition party’s Western Province interim committee because of a conflict of interest, but vows that he doesn’t plan on ditching the party because he has “a UPND baptism certificate”.

Last week, UPND chairperson for elections Garry Nkombo said that the party had dissolved the Western Province Provincial committee and accused the PF of bribing its councilors to resign from the party.

Nkombo said the party established an interim committee headed by Nkeyema UPND member of parliament Kapelwa Mbangweta in a bid to stop the PF from buying and targeting councilors in that province.

And in a Facebook post, Wednesday, Kangombe announced that he had resigned from the interim committee, news which was widely shared on ruling PF blogs.

In an interview, Kang’ombe explained that he resigned because he was a member of the dissolved committee and therefore, did not want to be a member of the interim one as it would be seen as though he was undermining his colleagues.

“There was a meeting prior to the dissolution of the old committee, a committee which I happened to be provincial youth chairperson. A resolution was made that all members of the old committee should be stripped off and an interim committee in readiness for convention should be constituted and none of the old members should be part of the interim committee. I was in the old committee so I see it not fit to include me in the interim committee because it conflicts with the resolutions of the meeting that was conducted prior to the dissolution of the committee. So if an error was made, I think it is prudent and imperative to correct that error and not be part of the interim committee because it is going against the resolutions. I would rather trade on a fair foundation without people questioning me. I don’t want to be a subject of discussion over a very straightforward matter and also to undermine my colleagues that I was working against them,” Kang’ombe said.

When asked if he had plans of leaving the party, Kang’ombe replied in the negative.

“I leave UPND to go to which party? As far as I am concerned, there is no sound political party that I can go to. If I left UPND, I would go to my farm. Unfortunately, I am not leaving UPND before we form government. I was firing on a single piston, not now. I have a baptism certificate in the UPND. I have corrected my mistake it is prudent for a leader it’s not all about jubilating when you receive an appointment. I accepted basically because I was not aware of the resolutions that were made prior to the dissolutions. How the appointment came about should be the basis of staying in the position. If it has become because of defying certain resolutions, then it is not viable. People will look at you like a compromised person who is not principled and I am not in that bandwagon,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kang’ombe said President Edgar Lungu should not measure his popularity by creating by-elections.

“If Lungu would want to come here and camp in Sesheke let him come, I will hammer him. In Chilubi where he had camped for seven days and chased us, if he thinks he is popular by conducting politics like that to measure his popularity on the ground, then he needs to be sat down and lectured by people like me,” said Kang’ombe.