UPND SHUNNING YOUTH DAY CELEBRATIONS

Dear Editor,

UPND and its president Hakainde Hichilema are at it again, this time boycotting or shunning Youth Day celebrations – a non-partisan event.

It is through such non-partisan events that help to heal wounds and promote unity, oneness, harmony, respect and understanding between and among political parties. Such events are not for the ruling political party only, they are national events.

Being national events, all those who regard themselves as national leaders in their own way, especially political party leaders, are expected and should be at such events.

In fact being present at such events provides them with an opportunity to market themselves at no cost, the only cost may be is to take themselves to the venue of the event.

Apart from the people at the place of the event, several thousand people across the country will be watching the happenings on national television and will be seeing the national leaders of the political parties.

Seeing them on the screen sometimes may ignite discussions or debates between and among the people watching and some of the leaders may win their hearts.

So in a way, the leaders’ presence at such non-partisan events is free advertisement for them, they need to take full advantage of such events.

But by shunning such events, political parties and their leaders such as Mr Hichilema and UPND let such opportunities slip through their fingers.

In fact Mr Hichilema and UPND do not learn. They lost a real GOLDEN opportunity when the PF, then in opposition, invited Mr Hichilema and UPND to join hands against the then ruling MMD. They rejected that invitation.

Depending on the sort of union the two parties would have agreed upon, most likely Mr Hichilema would have been the republican vice president and would have taken over as president with the passing on of the late President Michael Sata (MHSRIP).

Mr Hichilema and UPND should be licking their wounds even now each time they recall the fundamental mistake they made to refuse the PF invitation.

They are still going on the same road, except that this time they are stepping on quicksand and drifting into oblivion.

Being national events, all those who regard themselves as national leaders in their own way, especially political party leaders, are expected and should be at such events.