POLICE ARREST AND DETAIN 4 SP NORTHERN PROVINCE LEADERS
Police yesterday arrested and detained four Northern Province Socialist Party leaders in Luwingu.
The Socialist Party leaders, on their way to Luwingu, stopped at in Lubushi Ward, Mpalapata area, of Lunte Constituency to greet and encourage the party Ward leaders.
While there, a known UPND official was seen and heard making calls to the other UPND leaders. Immediately the SP leadership were about to leave Police arrived and picked them.
Those detained are:
- Matilda Lungu, SP Northern Province chairperson,
- Lwembe Gift, acting Provincial Secretary,
- Simuyemba Simon, Provincial Youth Vice Training Coordinator, and
- Kennedy Kabwe, Lunte District chairperson.
They were released this afternoon after being charged with “conduct likely to cause the breach of peace”.
What type of multiparty political dispensation is this that Mr Hichilema is trying to establish in this country where the opposition is not allowed to organise its structures; where opposition provincial party leadership is not allowed to meet few district, constituency, ward and branch leaders even indoors?
What type of multiparty democracy is Mr Hichilema trying to establish in Zambia without the freedom to assembly and hold political rallies?
This is certainly not a recipe for multiparty democracy but tyranny and dictatorship. And it must be tenaciously resisted, even in the cool salons of political manipulation.
Under Mr Hichilema, Zambia is hurtling rapidly towards a country with “one leader, one party, one ideology, one media”. Only him and his minions should speak and be listened. Everyone should sing praise to glorious leadership. All of us should do nothing but watch on him on stage performing. This is very dangerous. And we won’t allow it. We struggled for this pluralism, for this multiparty political dispensation. I was personally involved in it with Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, Mbita Chitala, Vernon Mwaanga, Edith Nawakwi, among many others dead and alive. Mr Hichilema was not anywhere near this struggle.
The fundamental value we must have is a respect for diversity and acceptance of pluralism. Gone are the days when everyone was supposed to think the same way, belong to the same political party, and support the same programme.
Mr Hichilema is behaving like a Northern Rhodesia colonial governor. Probably even the colonial governor was better than Mr Hichilema because he would allow some rallies of UNIP. In the two years Mr Hichilema has been in power he has not allowed a single opposition rally. It’s only him and his minions who are allowed to hold rallies and party meetings. What type of selfishness is this?
The conduct of this tinpot dictator will soon become embarrassing even to his American, British and European masters.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party
The story sounds incomplete. Why do i sense that Mmembe has a sense of entitlement like zambians owe him some form of gratitude. Every voter who voted contributed to the freedom we are all enjoying now.