UPND govt lacks capacity to contain multiple battle fronts, says Sikota
By Thomas Ngala
THE UPND government in its leadership’s naivety must be aware of far reaching consequences of the move to arrest president Edgar Chagwa Lungu for no offence committed, warns United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) chairperson Sakwiba Sikota.
Sikota said in a statement that the shrinking democratic space, which he said has robbed Zambians of their freedom of expression and association, is a great source of worry for the fledgling democracy.
He said the public is aware of similar pronouncements made by President Hakainde Hichilema prior to the 2021 general elections and no charges were preferred against him.
“It is important to note that while the election day is the most important day when citizens exercise their power over national leadership at various levels, in between elections, the
Constitution confers upon the leadership rights to congregate to fine tune their ideals and reach consensus to present themselves for elections,” he said. “The denying of citizens’ rights of association and assembly to share their values to present to voters is an assault on democracy and development. Furthermore, this can potentially build in unnecessary costs of access to finance both by the sovereign, sub-sovereign and the local private sector through perceived political risk premium.”
Sikota warned of the negative narrative being painted through denying opposition parties from engaging with the general public is feeding into a higher risk premium for the country.
He said rating agencies will likely factor in this risk premium in arriving at the sovereign rating.
“This negative factor makes investors to adopt a cautionary position as fears grow that the tension being built up and sustained by the UPND government can potentially lead to civil disobedience and create a hostile environment for business, which would affect the business environment,” Sikota said. “We wish to alert the UPND government that the destruction of the independence of security agencies in general and the police in particular will lead to a negative outlook in the next rating exercise. The end result will be unnecessary costs to the general public and the business community.”
He said UKA hastens to caution the UPND government and the compromised security agencies that ‘’your actions lack ingredients of a mature deliberation and thought through wisdom’’.
“Simply put, the UPND government lacks capacity to contain multiple battle fronts. ECL will be protected by UKA and the UPND will live to regret the consequences that will follow through harassing,” warned Sikota. “For the avoidance of any doubt to President Hichilema and his IG (Graphael Musamba), we in UKA call for EARLY ELECTIONS BEFORE 2026 because our people are suffering economically, politically and spiritually under the brutal despotic UPND regime.