NEWLY appointed NDC national chairman Richard Luonde has schooled President Edgar Lungu and his Lusaka minister Bowman Lusambo that Zambia is a nation of rights and any form of infringement on any of these amounts to disregard of the supreme law of the land.
And Fr Luonde said allowing the PF to continue in government beyond 2021 will be suicidal.
In his maiden statement following his appointment to the National Democratic Congress’s central committee, Fr Luonde reminded the PF that one would fool some people some time but certain not fool all the people all the time.
He recalled that when Zambia got its independence from colonialists, the nation wanted its inhabitants not only to have the freedom of movement but also economic freedom and see the rule of law.
Fr Luonde said his party would not tolerate the ‘nonsense’ of mistreating Zambians.
“The NDC will not tolerate PF protecting of foreigners more than they are protecting indigenous Zambians. We say abash to this type of governance. When we got independent, we got it for the benefit of every Zambian, rich, poor, uneducated, educated, physically challenged, able bodied, freedom for all Zambians. As a party, we shall continue to fight until we overcome and achieve this objective,” Fr Luonde said.
He warned that no Zambian was above or superior to the other as was being witnessed under the PF regime.
He recalled that the constitution of Zambian, which President Lungu swore to protect guarantees freedom of expression to all, which cannot be taken away by selfish leaders.
“Just because someone is fighting for a third term, which in my view and many Zambians will not come, the PF want to intimidate voices of reason. Zambians are intelligent enough to know what is right and wrong. To think by breaking the law they are going to achieve their evil plans, NDC and like minds will not accept anything less…. We shall fight for the continued freedoms of our people,” Fr Luonde said.
“When our forefathers fought for independence, they knew that they wanted this nation to be free, generations to come to be free and taking us back to bondage, ba PF we are saying that twakana.”
Fr Luonde said intimidating the youths who were the majority Zambians was a total fallacy and a dry joke that would not work.
“Aba bana bafyalwa munda shabafyashi babo to live in Zambia because Zambia is their land. How then do you begin to suppress their voices when you know that the majority in Zambia today are youths? The youths that have nothing to do, the youths that have nothing to look to and when they speak in expressing their views, you begin to threaten them! Ba Lusambo don’t start insulting the youths and their intelligence as it amounts to insulting the Zambian people and God who created them,” Fr Luonde said.
The former Anglican priest urged Zambian youths not to fear or be intimidated, stating that their voice should be heard.
Fr Luonde further noted with regret that a lot of youths had graduated from colleges and universities with very good results but cannot find employment.
“This is not Lusambo’s country, this is not President Lungu’s country, it is our country together. What is wrong honourable Lusambo for our youths to say ‘please don’t misuse our gold, let the Zambians benefit from it?’ A lot of these youths are expressing how we the old generation is destroying them because they cannot attain the education they desire, which they would have attained with support from government,” Fr Luonde said.
He noted that education in Zambia had become very expensive and was now a preserve of those in government and the rich due to their capacity to send their children to affluent schools.
“Nga nati njipushe, ba Edgar Lungu abafyashi benu bali niba millionaire? Your father was a poor person but you came from a poor background and knew what you needed to lead a better life, you made sure that you excelled in school and that’s why today you are a lawyer and President of Zambia, so why should you mistreat and threaten the youths when they are only crying for what is right?” Fr Luonde asked.
He further reminded President Lungu that there was no employment in Zambia today thus he should not expect youths to keep quiet.
Fr Luonde said the best thing elders and leaders in Zambia would do is to support and agree with the youths that what they were saying is true and promise to endeavor to create employment for them.
He further urged the youths not to apologise to anybody for their actions as they have not broken the law nor injured anybody in their cause.
“Your cry is genuine; I encourage you to speak more. Ba PF you cannot turn Zambia into a one party state, the journey of one party state ended in 1991 and therefore don’t send Zambia back to that era, it will not work. Improve our economic welfare so that every Zambian can benefit from it,” he said.
Fr Luonde further lamented at the PF’s denial of freedom of assembly to the opposition when the members of the ruling party were traveling all over the country to mobilise their structures.
He warned that allowing the PF to continue after 20021 would be suicidal for Zambians.
He urged citizens to escort PF to their resting place.