By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) has said every political party is important to the interparty dialogue process and has cautioned against referring to some parties as insignificant.
ZCID executive director Monica Kanjimana said that commentators referring to some parties as small were merely trying to detract the dialogue process.
There are some sentiments that some small political parties could be part of the process to merely strengthen the position of either the Patriotic Front (PF) or the United Party for National Development (UPND).
Ms Kanjimana said it was important that every political party participated in order to promote inclusiveness, multipartism and democracy.
“Irrespective of the agenda of that party, their views are important, and how do you measure the size of a political party?” she asked.
Ms Kanjimana said the political dialogue championed by ZCID and the Commonwealth was not about the PF and UPND only but about Zambian politics and their impact on the social economic status of Zambians.
She said the process was necessary to develop a roadmap for a more inclusive and fair political process during the 2021 general elections.
Ms Kanjimana said it was imperative that all political parties, civil society organisations and the church mother bodies effectively participated in the process to reap the required results.
She said all stakeholders were keen on the process and had exhibited willingness to participate.
Meanwhile, Ms Kanjimana said the first interparty meeting that was scheduled for this Friday had been moved to January next year.
This was because there was a conflict in schedules by various political parties.
Ms Kanjimana said the PF, UPND and FDD had suggested to move the meeting to January because they had other scheduled events in December.
She said the MMD was also dealing with some in-house matters and it was, therefore, important to reschedule to next year to enable everyone participate in the process.