HAS ZAMBIA’S CONSTITUTION BEEN SUSPENDED?: A CASE OF HARASSING THE 6TH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT
By Sean Tembo – PeP President
1. The incident in which Zambia Police officers stormed a private meeting between the 6th Republican President, His Excellency Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu and His Grace, Bishop Clement Mulenga, which was being held in Bishop Mulenga’s office in Kabwe, last Friday, marks a new low in the democratic standing of Hakainde Hichilema’s Government, and must be condemned by all right thinking citizens.
2. While an attempt was made by the Acting Minister of Information and Media, Jack Mwiimbu to render an apology to the Catholic Church during his press briefing of yesterday afternoon, the said attempted apology should not be accepted by the Catholic Church because it is partial and half-hearted. There were two parties having the said private meeting, that is the Bishop and the 6th Republican President, so under what moral standard did Jack Mwiimbu find it necessary to apologize only to the Bishop and the Church, but not to the 6th Republican President?
3. During his protracted press briefing, Jack Mwiimbu kept on ranting about how the 6th Republican President is subject to the Public Order Act. I think Mr. Mwiimbu needs some basic education in the law. The legislation in question is titled the PUBLIC Order Act for a reason. Because it is meant to regulate PUBLIC gatherings. There was nothing PUBLIC about the private closed door meeting that the 6th Republican President was having with the Bishop in the Bishop’s office. If the law was meant to regulate private meetings, as Jack Mwiimbu seems to argue, then it would have been titled the PRIVATE Order Act. But it is not. And that is why it is titled the PUBLIC Order Act.
4. Secondly, the Zambia Police, in their lame statement issued on Friday afternoon, claim that they had information that President Edgar Lungu intended to address two public gatherings in Kabwe that day, and that is the reason they stormed his private meeting at the Bishop’s office. It appears that the reasoning of the entire Zambia Police is beneath that of a two year old. If indeed the claims by the Police are true, then why did they not wait for the 6th President to actually hold the alleged public gatherings before challenging him? Why disrupt his private meeting in the Bishop’s office, based on speculation that he later intends to hold a public gathering?
5. Lastly, Jack Mwiimbu and his fellow sycophants in Government should be informed, in no uncertain terms, that Zambia is not their father’s country. Zambia belongs to all Zambians, including President Edgar Lungu. The 6th Republican President has a right to go wherever he pleases in this country, whenever he pleases, without any let or hindrance. That right is not and cannot be granted by Government. The freedom of movement that President Edgar Lungu must enjoy was bestowed on him at birth, by the Constitution of this Republic. The only way that President Lungu can be denied his Constitutional right to freely roam around the breadth and length of this country is if Jack Mwiimbu has suspended the Constitution. So the question that we perhaps need to pose to Jack Mwiimbu at this juncture is; have you suspended the Constitution of Zambia?
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SET 19.05.2024