UPND WALKING PF TRAJECTORY
…and PF was booted out of power because they insisted on blocking UPND – Nyirenda
By Margaret Malenga(The Mast)
OPERATION Young Vote executive director Guess Nyirenda warns that the UPND should expect the same results meted on PF from Zambians if they continue denying the opposition freedoms of assembly and association.
He has asked the new dawn to do what is right “because I think they can’t just continue giving excuses that UKA is illegal, no!”
“Why is it illegal for UKA when it is not illegal for the UPND alliance which was also not registered?” Nyirenda asked.
He urged the government to respect the rights of citizens.
Nyirenda, in an interview, underscored the inherent right of individuals to freely associate and express themselves within the bounds of the law.
“First of all we must, as Zambians, respect our laws. We give these laws unto ourselves as people and one of the fundamental provisions in the law is that there must be some freedoms. For a person to live fully and to be alive fully they must have freedoms and they must enjoy those freedoms. For example, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly. These freedoms are very important and these we give unto ourselves in the Constitution but they are inherent in us. As a human being, you cannot live as an island.
You need to associate and you must be free to associate with whoever you want to associate with. You must also be free to express yourself because that’s how you live fully as a human being, but within the law. You must also be free to assemble because it is inherent in human beings to assemble, to meet and to engage with others,” he said. “The challenge that we have is the police are not doing a service to us. They are actually doing a disservice and more so doing a disservice to the party in power because for them they think that by denying people to assemble, to meet, to associate, to express themselves, it means that they are doing a good thing to the party in power or the leadership. It doesn’t mean like that. It actually erodes the confidence that the people who elected the leaders will have or will continue to have in the leadership at hand. Then government also must not walk the trajectory that we have been taken through by previous regimes. It doesn’t work like that.”
Nyirenda reminded the UPND government that they “came on the platform that Zambians will be free, Zambians will enjoy the freedom, will enjoy their leadership and even those in UKA are part of Zambians who should enjoy the freedoms”.
He said the UKA should partake of those freedoms.
“Unless UKA have done an extraordinary or have committed an extraordinary offence, but where they just want to meet and share ideas with the members of the public, I mean why not allow them? This is one of the big reasons that the PF was booted out of power by the Zambians because they actually insisted to ensure that they blocked the UPND from engaging, so why should the UPND as government also walk the same trajectory and expect different results? They should expect same results from the Zambians,” Nyirenda warned. “They were not happy with this kind of leadership. They were not happy with this kind of arrangement and they will be able to say ‘can you move out and let others come in who are a bit serious’. So it is important that our leaders read between the lines and they must also analyse things seriously and not dance to the praise singers because the praise singers have said ‘no, stop them’ and then they stop them. It doesn’t work like that.”
Nyirenda further reminded the UPND government that leadership is a privilege granted temporarily.
“Life is dynamic and you must appreciate the dynamism of life as elected leadership in government because the government and the privilege they have been given is just a privilege and not a right where they are going to be there forever,” said Nyirenda. “It’s a privilege and Zambians can at any time, 2026 during the elections, get that privilege from them and give it to somebody else and to other people. So it is important that really they do what is right because I think they can’t just continue giving excuses that UKA is illegal, no! Why is it illegal for UKA when it is not illegal for the UPND alliance which was also not registered? You can’t walk the same trajectory and think that you will have the different results.”