DON’T CHANGE GOAL POSTS, UPND TOLD
THE UPND has been criticised for demanding that the church should lead the dialogue process but they never raised such issues in previous dialogues when the opposition party chaired the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party (ZCID).
New Congress Party leader Peter Chanda said in Lusaka yesterday that when the UPND was chairing the ZCID the opposition party never demanded that the church should lead the meetings.
Mr Chanda said it was unacceptable that the UPND wanted to change goal posts to bring confusion this time, when during their chairing of the ZCID, there was no confusion because the ZCID was allowed to do its work.
“There should be no conditions on who should chair the dialogue now that the UPND are not the ones chairing the institution, they should not mislead the nation with their tactics,’’ Mr Chanda said.
He said the UPND was part of the ZCID and that the latter should be allowed to lead the dialogue process.
Mr Chanda also recalled the UPND had previously rejected the church to preside over the political party bill. At the time the opposition party argued that political differences should be resolved by political parties, he added.
‘’This is the same party that had rejected the church to preside over that political party bill saying political differences should be resolved by political parties,” he said.
Mr Chanda wondered why the church had suddenly become the UPND’s darling to even demand for the men and women of the collar to chair the dialogue process.
The ZCID should be given chance to do the job it was mandated to do, he said.
He said he wondered what the UPND really wanted because they had continued to give unnecessary excuses.
"UPND is part of the same ZCID they are refusing and one wonders why they cannot trust the same board they constituted," he said.
Mr Chanda, however, urged the stakeholders to expedite the process and put to rest issues that called for dialogue, for the country to move forward.