UPND faces isolation – Andrew Banda

FORMER President Rupiah Banda’s son, Andrew, says anyone in the UPND refusing to forge a union with other opposition political parties will be isolated.
And the Alliance for a Better Zambia (ABZ) says if the UPND does not want to work in unity, it will go it alone.
Mr Banda told the Daily Mail yesterday that no single political party – including the PF – can win elections by 50-percent-plus-one vote.
He was reacting to the UPND’s assertions that it will field its own candidates in the forthcoming Katuba, Mkushi South and Solwezi Central parliamentary by-elections slated for February 25.
Mr Banda, NAREP president Elias Chipimo and ABZ’s Frank Bwalya have called for the opposition to unite and field one candidate in the by-elections.
“We need to unite as opposition. I am a founder member of UPND and so we will isolate anyone against the idea of unity,” Mr Banda said.
He said the countdown to 2016 is on, hence the need for unity.
And ABZ secretary general Eric Chanda says his party is enjoying massive support and will thus go it alone if other political parties do not want unity.
Mr Chanda, who described President Sata as a political heavyweight, said his party, though in its infancy, will take on the PF.
“Ba Shikulu ba Sata is a very experienced and seasoned politician and the PF is a very strong party but we will take it on,” he said.
Mr Chanda said ABZ will not force any political party to partner with it.
“ABZ has been on the ground and we will test our popularity by participating in the Katuba by-election,” he said.
Mr Chanda has wished the UPND luck as they go it alone in the elections.
“We shall meet the UPND in the battlefield,” he said.
Mr Chipimo is among those who have called for unity among the opposition but the UPND has opposed the idea.

Source