NEW HERITAGE PARTY SHUNS SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY

NEW Heritage Party (NHP) president, Chishala Kateka says the party will not participate in the ongoing Summit for Democracy because the gathering is aimed at laundering the image of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) in the eyes of the international community , especially its strongest ally, the United States (US) Government.

Ms Kateka told Millennium TV in an interview that attending the Summit for Democracy would be a betrayal to the principles of honesty, integrity and patriotism on which her party was founded.

“The New Heritage Party will not be attending the Summit for Democracy that is being hosted by Zambia , we have our reasons and our reasons are simple, the UPND Government are using this to launder themselves in eyes of the international community , especially their strongest ally the United States to seem more democratic when in fact, they are very anti-democracy,” Ms Kateka said.

She said the UPND Government could not claim to be democratic when it had on several occasions stopped opposition parties from mobilising their members , visiting their families and precluded them from holding peaceful protests.

“They have gone so far as to arrest some media personnel and sometimes roughly beating them. They have chased opposition leaders from out of town. So we see these as anti-democratic practices,” Ms Kateka said.

She added that the New Heritage Party would not be part of the charade aimed at fooling the Zambian people are the international community. Ms Kateka said the UPND administration had constantly violated the law by denying Zambians their basic rights to political association, free speech and assembly.