MEDIA RELEASE - NAREP PARTICIPATION IN OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS

The National Restoration Party (NAREP) attaches great importance to national

events as they bear a significance of exclusive value to all Zambian citizens
regardless of political affiliation. Further, they are not a preserve of the party in
power.

It is therefore disconcerting that through our multi-party history, opposition political

parties generally tend to shun official functions on days when national solidarity
should be exercised, just because they are in opposition. This is a divisive trend that
misinforms and misdirects our children who are the future leaders of this nation.
There will always be unresolved matters that the government of the day needs to
address and it is correct for opposition to hold them to account. However,
boycotting national events is never the solution, and it will never be.
Its in this regard that we hereby inform the Zambian people that we will rally
behind our women and youth by taking part in the upcoming official events to
commemorate Womens and Youth day next week.
We know that the nation is facing many unresolved challenges such as
unemployment, high prices of commodities, poor sanitation, poor healthcare, lack of
access to decent education and shoddy support to rural farmers. However, the
answer does not lie in boycotting official functions but in directly challenging the
leadership to take its responsibilities seriously and rousing citizens to rally behind
this demand.
We urge all our members women and youths to take contribute to the future
progress of our nation by being part of official recognition of the role our women and
our youth play in our development. Let us use these functions to make bold
statements about the plight of our women and our youth. Finally, in line with
NAREP's 8 core values, our members should also see this time as an opportunity to
help the vulnerable in their communities by conducting acts of service.

Issued by:

Frank Sichone

NAREP Secretary for Youth and Sport

6th March, 2015