UPND ready for merger, says HH

UPND ready for merger, says HH
Written by Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Sunday, March 08, 2009 4:10:18 AM

HAKAINDE Hichilema yesterday said the UPND is ready to merge with any political party that is interested in change to get rid of the MMD government because it has failed. And Hichilema charged that President Rupiah Banda has no stamina to run up to 2011.

Speaking on arrival at Ndola International Airport, Hichilema said the MMD was a tired party and that Zambia needed a government that would address the plight of the people.

"Our colleagues from MMD are tired and if we want a better life, we should work together like the way we did in 1991 when we removed the one-party state. We should work together and I am ready to merge with any political party that needs change," Hichilema said.

"RB is taking us back to the UNIP days and we don't want that. When we were campaigning during the last elections, we told you people from Copperbelt that RB was not capable of running the country. But you did not want to listen to us, so you see what is happening now, he thinks this is a one-party state."

He said the UPND would have offered the Zambian people a better life had they voted him in power and that they would have provided a solution to the current job losses before many miners lost their jobs.

Hichilema said MMD was a sleeping government and that there was no need for any by-elections.

He said President Banda was a scared man who was currently blaming everyone that opposes him and that a lot of people would leave the MMD.

"Why is the MMD government in a hurry to have a by-election, when they have refused PF to have by-elections? This is now showing double standards. Why does it suit MMD to have a by-election and not PF?" he asked.

"The money they want to use for the by-elections can be channelled to building hospitals, schools, and agriculture activities. There is no need for a by-election. RB is nervous; he knows that things are not well for him that is why he is firing people."

Hichilema appealed to all opposition political parties to unite so that they could remove the MMD from power.