Free Tayali, free Muvi TV Journalists – says GBM
15.11.2022
Lusaka

Patriotic Front aspiring candidate for the position of party president, Mr. Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, popularly known as GBM, has called for the immediate release from police custody of Equity and Economic Party President Chilufya Tayali and MUVI TV journalists Innocent Phiri and Obvious Kaunda.

Mr. Mwamba says the arrests constitute an assault on freedom of expression and freedom of the media which are guaranteed in the Zambian constitution, the Africa Charter of Human and People’s Rights and the Universal Charter of Human Rights. Furthermore, Mr. Mwamba says the arrests are an attack on democracy, the very political system that facilitated President Hakainde Hichilema’s ascension to power.

The former Kasama Central Constituency lawmaker and former Defense Minister says he is deeply disappointed that a man who had once in his career served as Chairman of the Media Trust Fund, MTF, an organization that equipped radio stations and saw the growth of community media around the country could turn against the very institutions he gave birth to and strangle their freedom to operate.

“No parent would morally degenerate to the point of illtreating the very children he brought into existence”, Mr. Mwamba said.

Secondly, Mr. Mwamba is disappointed that a man who repeatedly laments how frequently he was arrested when he was in the opposition should preside over a system that repeats the same thing that happened to him. The PF presidential aspirant says a President who cannot change a system that he condemned when he was in the opposition does not deserve another term in office, adding, “people go to the polls to vote for change because they want a new policy direction”.

The opposition politician who is also the PF chairperson for mobilization has questioned the President’s commitment to the characterization of his government as “the New Dawn” government when there is no new dawn to write home about. Watching the police raid of Mr. Tayali’s house, Mr. Mwamba says, is like watching a movie one has watched before, a reference to when the same police raided Mr. Hichilema’s house when he was in the opposition.

Repeating the same tactics, Mr. Mwamba says is a confirmation that President Hichilema is on a path of vengeance for his own experiences. Using the Presidency to settle personal scores, Mr. Mwamba says, is lowering the dignity of an office that is designed to facilitate national development and national unity.

ISSUED BY: GEOFFREY BWALYA MWAMBA
PF ASPIRING CANDIDATE FOR THE PARTY PRESIDENCY AND PF MEMBER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE RESPONSBILE FOR MOBILIZATION

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