NW UPND, Rainbow to boycott Labour Day celebrations

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:25:27 +0000

By JACK MAPAPAYI

THE opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and the Rainbow Party in North Western Province say they will not participate in this year’s Labour Day celebrations.

Rainbow Party provincial vice youth chairperson Wisdom Kasamba told the Daily Nation that there was nothing to celebrate about.

He said most of the youths in the province were still wallowing in poverty because Government had not provided decent jobs for them.

He alleged that most of the youths that had been employed were given jobs on party lines.

“We are not going to celebrate based on these factors. If one or two of our members will join in the celebrations they will do it in their own individual capacity and not in the name of the party,’’ he said.

Asked if they were not being political by boycotting the event,  Mr Kasamba responded: “We are not being political, we are being realistic to the facts on the ground.’’

And UPND provincial vice information and publicity secretary Laaton Kawanda said they could not observe the day when their leader was incarcerated.

But Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) provincial chairperson Danny Mulikosa has charged that the two political parties did not understand why they existed as political parties.

Mr Mulikosa said the day was for all Zambians, hence the need for all well-meaning Zambians to join in the celebrations.

“I am sure every political party has some of its members who work in either civil society organisations, private and public sectors. So for us really it doesn’t make sense for them to boycott such an important day,” he said.