Labour Day boycott by UPND primitive-Nonde

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 10:44:56 +0000

By OSCAR MALIPENGA

UPND is being primitive by boycotting this year’s International Labour Day celebrations, says labour minister Joyce Simukoko.

Ms Simukoko said all the workers should ignore the UPND stance on the day which was celebrated the world over.

She said UPND’s primitiveness was shocking and the party would regret the actions.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Nation, Ms Simukoko said being an opposition political party did not mean disregarding the system and the authority.

“They are losing it that is why we have the judiciary handling the matter of their leader so we only expect them to wait for the outcome and not politicize the Labour Day celebrations,” she said.

Ms Simukoko said the UPND should take a leaf from what was happening in developed countries regarding offering the checks and balances without anarchy.

She said if the UPND was planning to boycott the Labour Day celebrations on the basis that their leader was incarcerated then what they were doing did not add any value to the society.

“People do not get attracted to political parties that encourage anarchy, insults and promote violence. No Zambian wants to see the country on fire,” Ms Simukoko said. She said Zambian workers wanted to listen to solutions from the opposition and not threats to put the nation on fire.

Ms. Simukoko said the day was a special one meant to celebrate the sweat of workers which should never be politicized.

“It is a way of saying thank you to the workers, so what the UPND are saying is like saying they cannot go to church because their leader HH is incarcerated,” she said. Ms Simukoko urged all the workers across Zambia to ignore UPND and turn out in numbers for the celebrations.

On Saturday, UPND chairperson for labour Percy Chanda said it would be insane for UPND to be part of the celebrations while their leader Hakainde Hichilema was incarcerated.