Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:30:32 +0000
A senior UPND member, Douglas Siakalima, has blamed the Patriotic Front (PF) government of causing the confusion and turmoil that has continued to rock opposition MMD.
Mr. Siakalima said that the (PF) government should not be spared for creating the prevailing wrangles in the MMD because of its determination to swallow the former ruling party.
Mr. Siakalima said that he strongly believed that the PF’s agenda was designed to destroy big opposition parties like the MMD in order to successfully run a one party state adding that the PF was almost managing doing so with the former ruling party now thrown into turmoil.
He said that the UPND was concerned with the leadership wrangles currently rocking the MMD at a time when Zambians were looking for an alternative government to replace the PF government that has failed to deliver on its promises and should not be allowed to run the country beyond 2016.“It is clear that the PF government and President Sata have failed to run the affairs of the nation and the people of Zambia are extremely disappointed because of the unfulfilled promises, Siakalima advised.
“It is painful to see that this is the way the people of Zambia will live in the next five years under the leadership of President Sata and the PF.” He said.
He said that it would be difficult for the people to expect any positive changes in their livelihoods due to “deteriorating governance levels, corrupt practices and other undemocratic issues that continue to characterise the PF government’s rule,” he said.
He said that President Sata was in a hurry to make Zambia a one party state because he was the son of the one party system of governance under the UNIP era where tactics of intimidation, harassment and violence were the order of the day.
Mr. Siakalima warned that if the former ruling party allowed itself to be infiltrated by the PF, it will certainly go down just like other small parties whose leaders have been hijacked by the PF.
“President Sata and the PF are using intimidation and arrests to bring strong parties like MMD down. He did it with the UPND and people thought that it will end with UPND but have you seen where it is going? They want to extend it to the MMD such that they instil fear in the former ruling party not to challenge them in their corruption and that is how dictatorial they are,” he said.
Mr. Siakalima has since encouraged the MMD party and its leadership to stay strong and remain united, “I know it is strange for them to be in the opposition after being in the ruling party for 20 years. But they can’t fall now because they have only been in the opposition for less than a year and should learn from other opposition parties like UPND who have endured being in the opposition for over 14 years now.”
“It is clear that the PF government has already lost touch with the people and they are definitely going to be out of power in 2016. So it is worth being strong and united in the opposition. People of Zambia want a strong voice to challenge the PF and it is not right for the MMD to give up.”
