UPND, NDC merger proposed

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 11:54:45 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

THE opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has asked the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to form an alliance now and together fight the ruling Patriotic Front (PF).

In an interview with the Daily Nation, UPND deputy secretary general, Patrick Mucheleka invited the NDC to join forces with UPND, in order to fight the PF as a united front.

Mr Mucheleka said that together, the opposition NDC and UPND had a higher chance of conquering the ruling party.

“Umunwe umo tausale nda (one finger cannot pick lice from one’s hair). Sometimes it requires concerted efforts of partners coming to-gether on one common agenda, fighting PF. If it means joining forces with NDC, we are ready.

“An alliance formed in the opposition can be formidable, not wait-ing for UPND to form government then you come. Let’s form a genuine alliance so that we stop what PF is doing,” he said.

When asked whether it was a formal invitation to other opposition political parties, Mr Mucheleka said that like minds, including NDC should come forth and form an alliance.

He said that there was nothing wrong for UPND to join forces with NDC, as long as the alliance would be based on genuine commit-ment.

Mr Mucheleka pointed out that even the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) had to form an alliance with the Movement for Multiparty Democ-racy (MMD) to form government.

He reiterated that UPND was also looking for genuine alliances with like minds in order to fight, what he termed ‘bad governance’ by the ruling party.

“UPND and NDC can come together and fight PF bad gov-ernance, we can do that without any shame,” said Mr Mucheleka.

Meanwhile, NDC spokesperson, Eric Chanda told the Daily Nation that he had to consult the bosses on the party position with regards the UPND invitation for an alliance.