WEAPONISING POLICE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL MOBILISATION AGAINST OPPOSITION UNACCEPTABLE- DR. CHILUFYA
…says UPND and their police seem incapable of appreciating political diversity and therefore sees Kambwili and other opposition leaders as enemies.
LUSAKA—- Tuesday February 7th 2023
SMART EAGLES
The Patriotic Front PF Presidential Candidate Hon. Dr. Chitalu Chilufya has urged government to stop weaponizing the police against opposition political parties.
Dr. Chilufya says weaponizing the police as an instrument of political mobilization against the opposition is totally unacceptable in a free and democratic society.
“To weaponize the police as an instrument of political mobilisation against the opposition is totally unacceptable in a free and democratic society.” He said .
Dr. Chilufya was speaking to Smart Eagles shortly after the release of Dr. Kambwili who had been incarcerated for unlawful assembly.
And Dr. Chilufya has described Dr. Kambwili’s detention and subjecting him to trauma as an act of toture which cannot be accepted in a free and democratic society.
He shared the view that conversations that he had with his supporters at his home last week could not be mischaractarized as a crime .
“The detention of Chishimba Kambwili and further subjecting him to trauma is an act of torture that we cannot accept in a free and democratic society.
Free speech, as we saw in his conversations with a small crowd of supporters at his home last week, cannot be mischaracterised as a crime.” He said .
He has urged government to excercise tolerance by respecting divergent views.
“The defining character of every democracy is TOLERANCE of one another’s divergent views. Democracy and the subsequent political pluralism it births, entails just that– that we are opponents and not enemies.” He said
He emphasized that those who couldn’t accept and respect divergent views in a democratic space ought to stay away from politics.
“Democratic societies are noisy places and this is an inherent characteristic of every democracy. Those who can’t stand the noise that occurs as a byproduct of the interplay of different ideas in the political space must keep out of politics, at least out of our Democratic politics.” He added .
He expressed worry that the UPND government were incapable of appreciating diversity of views thereby looking at the opposition as enemies.
“Democracy (and good governance) is sum total of different ideas from different formations and here we see that the UPND and their police seem incapable of appreciating this diversity and therefore sees Kambwili and other opposition leaders as enemies.
And speaking earlier Dr. Chilufya called on police to release Dr. Kambwili unconditionally, and stop thrusting poisonous snakes in his police cell.
“Release Kambwili noisy now and stop torturing him by thrusting poisonous serpents in his small filthy cell.” He said .
Dr. Kambwili has since been released on police bond and will appear in court soon .
And speaking after his release Dr. Kambwili lamented that be did not understand why police were handling him like a common criminal.
He said it was only after being arrested when he knew that he was being subjected to a snake