NAREP ticks off UPND
UPND sentiments on ZCID baseless... opposition party also receives Gov’t funding, says Chipimo
CLAIMS by the UPND that the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID) cannot be trusted because it receives Government funding are baseless, says NAREP president Elias Chipimo Junior.
Mr Chipimo said the UPND was a bigger recipient of government funding as its Members of Parliament and city, municipal and district council members earned a regular monthly income which is paid by the government from the hard earned income of taxpayers and other citizens.
He told journalists in Lusaka yesterday at a press conference dubbed “Here we go again” that if the current biggest opposition party had a problem working with anyone funded by government then they actually had a problem working with themselves.
He said every month, approximately K200 is deducted from each serving UPND council member and remitted to the UPND coffers.
Mr Chipimo said with about 800 council members, that gives the UPND a colossal monthly income of K160, 000 excluding contributions from its MPs.
“We do not believe there is any merit whatsoever in the claim by the UPND spokesperson that the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue cannot be trusted because they receive government funding for if that was the case, that very reason should cause us not to trust the UPND,” he said.
Mr Chipimo said the national dialogue was not a matter exclusive to the ruling PF and UPND but the absence of the two parties was central to the violence and animosity that has been perpetuated over the last years. He prodded the PF to be the first to reach out to their bitter rivals and agree terms of peace.
Mr Chipimo applauded the decision by President Edgar Lungu to delay the tabling of amendments to the republican Constitution, saying this should be welcomed by all stakeholders.
Mr Chipimo however alleged that citizens would be subjected to further taxes in form of new motor vehicle number plates pegged at K500.
He claimed the deal had been crafted in secrecy between Government and Intelligent Mobility Solutions (IMS).
Mr. Chipimo said the cost and expenditure was unjustified and that if the deal was allowed to proceed it would mean that the 17-year concession would make owners of the implementing agency in excess of $400 million after only two years based on the registration of eight million vehicles.
He said the party was reliably informed that the PF has hatched another money-making scheme to compel mini bus drivers to buy bins for their passengers to throw garbage in at a cost of K130 per bin.