Tayali slams UPND for shunning ZCID indaba
…They are becoming irrelevant, egocentric and arrogant
THE egocentrism and self-importance arrogance of the UPND is rendering it irrelevant in the political dispensation of the country, Equity and Economic Party (EEP) leader Chilufya Tayali said in Lusaka yesterday.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Tayali said by shunning the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) summit, the UPND was not being sincere but rendering itself irrelevant.
Mr Tayali was reacting to the UPND’s boycotting of the national democracy stakeholder’s summit organised by the ZCID, themed, ‘‘Dialogue and reforms for peace, unity, tolerance and development’’.
He said the UPND had disadvantaged itself for not attending the ‘‘indaba’’ because the party would have voiced out its concerns during deliberations.
“UPND are rendering themselves irrelevant in the political dispersion. They better think twice and join this process, because this train (dialogue process) has already started and it will not wait for them.
“UPND stands to lose out if they continue with their egocentrism and self-importance arrogance. Competition is becoming tighter with the coming in of new political parties,” Mr Tayali said.
And Mr Tayali said it was not true that the UPND was not invited saying the letter was sent to their secretariat and it was signed for as received.
“It is not true that the party was not officially invited as claimed by UPND Secretary General Stephen Katuka, what we know is that a letter was sent to their Secretariat and it was signed for,” Mr Tayali said.
He, however, said with or without UPND, the dialogue process would continue urging the opposition party to rescind its decision and join the dialogue.