UPND GOVT HAS DENIED US 33 TIMES TO HOLD RALLIES, LAMENTS SP
SOCIALIST Party Secretary General Dr Cosmas Musumali has charged that the UPND is one of the most repressive governments Zambia has ever had.
He has lamented that his party has been denied every chance to hold a rally despite applying 33 times over the last four years.
And Dr Musumali says there is evidence of corruption and looting of public property under the UPND government, yet no action has been taken.
In an interview, Wednesday, Dr Musumali argued that the UPND government had repressed the opposition by denying them rallies.
He was responding to Nevers Mumba, who had advised Zambians to tolerate political leaders for who they were, as unity meant accepting differences
“He is right in one way when he says unity entails accepting differences, but this can’t be one-sided, and the truth is that Dr Nevers Mumba was speaking about it in defence of the current government. Why can’t the current government accept that political parties or opposition political parties have a role to play? They may differ from him but allow them to hold rallies. The Socialist Party has of today applied 33 times now to hold a rally over the past four years ever since the UPND government got into power, and we have not been allowed not even a single rally. As a political party, we have to engage the masses, we have to tell them our agenda, our manifesto, but we are not getting that chance,” Dr Musumali said.
“This is one of the most repressive governments that Zambia has ever had. So, if the statement of Dr Nevers Mumba is correct that accepting differences is a form of uniting this country, then he should actually be speaking to President HH. President HH is not uniting this country, he doesn’t have the tolerance, he doesn’t have what it takes to accept criticism”.
Reacting to President Hakainde Hichilema’s recent remarks that he felt extremely bad when fellow citizens wanted to protect those who were stealing from people, Dr Musumali said corruption was being addressed selectively under the UPND government.
“There are two issues involved here. One is a question of principle, in that if somebody has stolen, they should be tried and the law should take its course. Our major concern is that it’s partial. There’s evidence of looting of public property which is happening in the UPND government, but we don’t see similar action being taken. The criticism against the President and the actions he’s taking and also the way he is sort of directing the entire judiciary is that the wrongs of the UPND government are hardly talked about and no action is taken. That’s the issue of impartiality in terms of how issues are dealt with. The second issue that we have brought out, especially from the Socialist Party perspective, is that the President is not transparent with his economic and financial dealings, and that any fight against corruption starts with him. He is not leading by example,” said Dr Musumali.
“There’s a lot of suspicion surrounding his wealth, his businesses and all the transactions that he has entered into ever since he got into power. And for the sake of fairness and transparency, from somebody who is leading this country, he should come out clean. So, here is somebody talking about fighting corruption and dealing with other people, but he is not open about himself, so he’s not walking the talk. Basically, those are the two issues”.
News Diggers
There must be a rational reason why. More so when your Party President pulls out a fire arm at the slightest skimish….would you not say that is reasonable justification? I mean if the Party President is going to be shooting at people. What more his security?
This a look in the mirror moment! Other opposition parties have been having rallies except where the police can not accommodate because of lack of resources. You also need to distinguish between the police and the UPND government. The police is a Zambian institution and not a party. Parties will always change, but the Zambia Police will remain. So learn to distinguish, when the police tell you that they cannot accommodate you on your chosen date, pick another date that is conductive. Additionally ask you president to tone it down and not to proceed and go on a rally with the aim of inciting violence. You can’t ask to go out with the aim of causing violence like Oasis had intended to do and when you are stopped you start saying we have been stopped so many times to have larys’. Remember, it is also your responsibility to ensure that any public activity you hold does not attract or has an act of violence.