UPND Mutale Nalumango says contrary to Patriots for Economic Progress leader Sean Tembo’s allegations that there is a superiority complex in the Opposition Alliance, all members are equal.

And Nalumango says opposition alliance members are free to contest in any election anywhere.

Meanwhile, National Restoration party (NAREP) vice-president Charles Maboshe says alliance members will soon submit on how the electoral pact will work.

Speaking during a phone-in program on Radio Phoenix, Monday, Nalumango said all opposition alliance members were equal and that none of the political parties dictated over others.

“There was nothing wrong with PeP president Sean Tembo pulling out of the alliance. It was within his constitutional right to choose who he associates and works with politically. If Sean Tembo was aggrieved, he should have come through. I strongly agree with him that we need to inculcate a spirit of openness and sincerity within the alliance. Yes we have to admit that UPND is the largest of the alliance partners but at no point have we looked down on any member of the alliance who are registered political parties that is why we got into the alliance ourselves,” Nalumango said.

“If we thought some were useless, why should we go into alliance with people who have no value because we valued everybody, there was no superiority, we don’t know which party was superior these questions can be asked to president Tembo because I can’t answer what he never said to me personally or to us as an the alliance.”

Nalumango said UPND and NDC never discussed which party would contest the Lubwa ward by-election.

“We never sat and discussed who would contest Lubwa ward, there is no time the UPND and NDC sat to discuss this matter and any assertions that say we discussed this matter are not true, as regards to the rift that emerged between UPND and NDC over the contesting of Lubwa ward in the Copperbelt. There is no existing pact in the Opposition Alliance. Any member is free to contest any election anywhere. If a member of the alliance is aggrieved with a specific action, by another member, it is important to approach the member and deal with the matter amicably,” said Nalumango.

And Speaking in a separate interview, Maboshe said problems facing the alliance were only making it stronger.

“At the moment, we have not signed any electoral pact. That is where we are. So now, we should accelerate the process and take [it] to another level so it is just a matter of us being level headed, and build this electoral pact together. This allows all of us and it has not blocked anyone it is not just for individual parties, but for all of us. In the next meeting, each political party will submit how each alliance member will want the electoral pact to work,” said Maboshe.