Don’t alarm int’l community, shun events, UPND told

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 14:53:38 +0000

THE UPND should not complain to the international community when they are shunning national events such as Women’s Day, says Zambia Volunteers Network deputy director Prince Ndoyi.

Mr Ndoyi said that as young leaders, they were taken aback by the self-centredness displayed by the UPND, saying it was diminishing their chances of ever forming government.

He said that there was no need for the opposition party to shun Women’s Day celebrations as the International Women’s Day was not a Patriotic Front (PF) day or President Edgar Lungu’s day.

Mr Ndoyi said that the UPND were the same people who were going round ‘crying’ to the international community but had failed to recognise international events.

“These are the same people who are going round crying to the international community but are failing to recognise international events,” he said.

He accused the UPND of playing double standards, saying that they had instructed the women in the party to shun national events while the leadership in the party were using money from Government through the contributions from their members of Parliament.

The non-governmental organisation said that the UPND leadership was embarrassed that they could not point a finger at President Lungu when it came to women empowerment.

Mr Ndoyi advised the UPND to compare notes with the PF on how they could as well adopt a female vice president like the PF.

He said the behaviour to shun national events to gain political mileage was fast losing its impact in modern politics and he cautioned the UPND leadership to wake up, saying they risked losing their relevance.

Mr Ndoyi said that the UPND leadership should not cheat itself that their women members did not attend the Women’s Day celebrations, stating that the only thing missing was their party regalia but that actually the UPND women were represented through different organisations like the church.

He said that in a democracy it was irrational for any individual to influence members to shun a national event and that it was a sign of desperation to gain sympathy and political mileage.