Commonwealth sidelines ZCID on dialogue preps

THE Commonwealth has again usurped the facilitation of the reconciliation process among political parties and has sidelined the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) as it has demanded that it exclusively deals with the matter.

ZCID spokesperson Edwin Sakala told the Daily Nation that the centre had been relegated to the gutters.

The Commonwealth has once again demanded that it be the institution leading the dialogue discourse and that it had demanded to meet the UPND leaders for the second time before the process could start.

Mr. Sakala said ZCID was dismayed at the change of goalposts and particular interest by the international body over the affairs of the UPND and wondered what had changed to warrant a U-turn after the two parties agreed that ZCID would take a leading role.

He said it was unfortunate that almost two years after Zambia went to the polls, the Commonwealth had continued playing double standards over the matter.

Mr. Sakala warned that this development had the potential to spark fresh tension in the country as people may not take kindly, any machinations aimed at toppling a legally voted for Government.

“We are surprised that the Commonwealth has once again decided to take the responsibility away from us after agreeing that we would facilitate the dialogue process.

“For the record, we have not failed to facilitate this dialogue and Commonwealth must not be seen to be helping us but the correct state of affairs is that they are bulldozing the process for reasons best known to themselves.”