Southern Africa regional  political party meeting insightful – Batuke Imenda

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) Secretary-General Batuke Imenda has described the just-ended Southern Africa Regional Political Party workshop as insightful.

Speaking after the closure of the workshop, Mr. Imenda said the workshop created a platform for all political parties to engage on many issues ranging from democracy to policy development.

He said that participants had an opportunity to share experiences and deliberate on issues affecting their countries and devise solutions to overcome such hurdles.

Mr. Imenda said such engagements are key to national development as they provide a vital platform for networking and building relationships on core values on national matters and interest.

And Patriotic Front (PF) deputy national Chairperson for Women Affairs Kavumbu  Hachilonde said the workshop had given political parties an opportunity to discuss various issues, and meet up with other women from different parties.

Ms. Hachilonde said gender equality remained a priority and women in politics were key in decision making as they helped to contribute to the development of the country.

Programme Director for International Republic Institute (IRI)  Kimberly Smiddy also expressed happiness at how different political parties worked together and made several presentations.

Ms. Smiddy described Zambia as a star performing country at the moment.

The 2nd Annual Southern Africa Regional Political party workshop was held in Sandton and  it attracted different political parties from different countries.

The workshop was held under the umbrella of IRI, a non – partisan, Non-Governmental Organization based in Washington DC that operates in more than 100 countries globally.

In Southern Africa, IRI is implementing a regional programme entitled “strengthening political parties through regional exchange and capacity building.