Sean Tembo
ABOUT WEAPONIZING STATE INSTITUTIONS AGAINST POLITICAL OPPONENTS: A CASE OF PRESIDENT HICHILEMA
By Sean Tembo – PeP President
1. Despite the great strides that this country has made in terms of democracy and the rule of law, one big dent that has always been there is the use of state institutions to harass, intimidate, undermine and sometimes destroy political opponents. Of course this has been done with varying levels of severity from arbitrary detentions, torture and mysterious disappearances that we witnessed during the KK, FTJ and ECL administrations to petty arrests during the Mwanawasa, RB, Sata and now HH’s administration. That has been the reality of our politics and many Zambians have accepted it as such, but for me, it is something that l was praying would change under the New Dawn Administration.
2. Yesterday’s sweeping arrests of three MPs from Luapula, an opposition stronghold in which the ruling UPND party did not secure a single Member of Parliament, leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. From my standpoint, a pattern is slowly forming in which President Hakainde Hichilema is systematically using law enforcement agencies such as the Police to not only harass political opponents but to also try and tilt the scales of the electorate and the scales of justice in favour of his UPND party. Take for instance the arrest of the Lusangazi bye-election PF candidate Mr Patrick Banda, on the eve of the bye-elections. This was calculated to tilt the vote against the opposition PF party by portraying Mr Banda as a crook who had forged his papers. Any independent and professional law enforcement agency in the world would have simply waited for the election to pass in a few days time before effecting the arrest. And as a former police officer myself, l know for sure that the Zambia Police Service is a professional law enforcement institution except when they are instructed by the political leadership to do unprofessional things. By itself, ZP would not have arrested Mr Patrick Banda on the eve of the bye-election knowing very well that such an action would adversely affect his performance in the election. It was a well known fact that Mr Banda was a well established member of the community and he would still be readily available even after the bye-election, to be arrested if he had committed a genuine criminal offense. In fact, why would the PF field in a candidate with forged documents knowing very well that if such a person had won, his election can easily be nullified by a court of law? Additionally, if indeed Mr Patrick Banda had forged credentials, then why did the ruling UPND just accept the outcome of the Lusangazi Council Chairperson bye-elections? Why is there no civil suit to to have the election nullified? Indeed, whereas other former Republican Presidents took time to settle in before commencing their despotism, it appears that President Hakainde Hichilema has started his despotism in gear 5.
3. Fast forward to yesterday, it is totally unacceptable that we can have the police arresting Hon. Ronald Chitotela of Pambashe Constituency, Hon. Nickson Chilangwa of Kawambwa Constituency and Hon. Kalalwe Mukosa of Chinsali Constituency, all on petty charges of alleged assault that is alleged to have taken place during elections campaigns around June of this year. Just like in the case of Mr Patrick Banda in Lusangazi, all these arrests are timed to coincide with the High Court petitions to nullify these seats. In other words, just like in Mkushi, these arrests are designed to sway the decisions of the Courts in the petitions, by creating a narrative of widespread violence against the ruling UPND during the last general elections. Again, President Hakainde Hichilema is using the Police to enhance the political fortunes of his party. He is unashamed to go after an entire province, an entire tribe. I have no doubt in my mind that if why in opposition, the UPND had three of their sitting MPs arrested, say Garry Nkombo, Jack Mwiimbu and Cornelius Mweetwa, Senior Chief Mukuni would have spent last night at the graveyard and would have been issuing media statements from there the whole day today alleging all sorts of things from tribalism to regionalism.
4. Someone might argue to say what if these MPs actually committed the alleged assaults and therefore must face the law? Why are you trying to defend them and insinuate political interference? Well, l’ll tell you something. During campaigns there are always pockets of violence here and there by almost all the camps involved. But it is literally impossible that a senior member of the campaign team such as a Campaign Manager or Agents, let alone the Parliamentary Candidate himself, would be directly involved in such violence. This is simply because of fear of having their election nullified. So even if they decide to engage in violence, they will ordinarily use boys who cannot be directly attached to their campaign. And according to the Electoral Process Act of 2016, for violence to be used to nullify an election, the people that engaged in it should either be the candidate himself or duly registered agents of the candidate. Violence committed by any other person does not count. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that any Parliamentary Candidate could have been foolish enough to directly start beating up supporters of the opposing camp. That is why l am quite confident that just like in Lusangazi where the UPND administration arrested Mr Patrick Banda a few days from the poll day for allegedly forging his credentials, then later failed to petition his election on the basis of the alleged forged documents, this again is another UPND ploy to harass the entire Luapula province for not voting for them.
5. From where l stand, there is no debate that the PF administration abused their powers while in office. That is a well established fact. But it should not be used as a justification by the UPND for them to also abuse their power. The common citizen will not benefit anything from the vengeance of the UPND against the PF. The Zambian people are expecting President Hakainde Hichilema to deliver on the promises of a lower cost of living, jobs and the rule of law. Therefore, President Hichilema should concentrate on addressing these expectations by the Zambian people. As for myself, l will always speak against abuse of state institutions against political opponents. When HH was being tear-gased and made to walk for hours in the bush during the Sesheke bye-election, it is myself and colleagues that convened a press briefing at Intercontinental Hotel using own resources, to alert the world about the atrocities that the PF administration was committing against the opposition, using video evidence. I did that not to gain political mileage, but in order to stand up for what l believed was right. Fast forward to today, President Hichilema is using the Police to harass PF MPs and others that were connected to the previous administration, and l am speaking up against that. Not because l want any political mileage, but because l believe it is the right thing to do. If one day President Hichilema is out of office and the new President begins to harass him or those connected to him, l will speak up against any such atrocities not because l need any political mileage but because it will be the right thing to do. I am a strong believe in the rule of law, fairness, justice and equity. These are principles that l shall never compromise regardless of who is President of Zambia at that particular time. Let President Hichilema engage in a genuine corruption fight and l personally will support it. A genuine corruption fight should be based on respect for the accused. Law enforcement agents should civil in their engagement with those that they are investigating. They should serve their warrants in a civil manner, conduct their search in the presence of the accused, as provided for by the law, show the accused person what they have seized and take their evidence to court. President Hichilema cannot claim to be undertaking a genuine corruption fight with the Gestapo behavior of ACC officers that we saw in the video when they were searching Mr Amos Chanda’s property. That is pure harassment and it should have no place in our society. If there is civility and genuineness in the fight against corruption, we will surely support it.
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SET 03.11.2021