STATEMENT CALLING ON PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA TO RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS AT THE START OF HIS 2ND TERM
As President Hakainde Hichilema begins his 2nd term, we respectfully call on you to take bold action for national unity and human dignity by ordering the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Zambia.
These individuals are human beings. They have mothers, fathers, children, and families who wake up every day not knowing if they will see their loved ones again. We believe that no Zambian should suffer or die in detention simply because they hold opposition views or belong to a different political party.
Mr. President, your leadership has been built on promises of democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights. To honor that legacy, we urge you to heed the calls of church leaders, the European Union, the UN, traditional leaders, civil society, legal bodies, and citizens across Zambia who have asked for this act of clemency.
Mr. President, releasing political prisoners is not a sign of weakness. To the contrary, it is a sign of strength, reconciliation, and statesmanship. It will signal to Zambia and the world that the second term will be defined by healing, not division.
Mr. President, I always feel like breaking when I remember people like Hon. Ronald Chitotela, Nickson Chilangwa, Hon. Raphael Nakacinda, Hon. Bowman Lusambo, and now President Brian Mundubile and his running mate.
Seriously, I am in tears as I write this, each time I think about them and their families.
Please Mr. President, release these comrades. They have suffered way, way too much. Let families be reunited.
Wright Musoma
*ZRP President*
It is unthoughtful rehtoric like this that hardness hearts. “Political prisoners” This term assumes there are no alleged crimes committed. How do such commentators expect government to respond. To say the least is a very poor way of advocating for dialogue.
Clearly leadership skills to handle such complex matters is absent and maybe this is beyond what is professionally is currently obtaining.
What this unwise attitude only does is to encourage government to stand firm and prove the alleged cases so that they clear this perceived notion of persecution. Is this the intended goal of some of these so called representatives.
This type of language is not helping the already heated situation. Guys apply wisdom when making comments. Don’t make it more difficult for they people who need help.
@Mr Musonda. Is that some convicts are more important than others. Those “honourables” (dis-honourables) committed crimes for which they were found guilty by the courts. If you are calling on the president to release them, then you should be thinking of every Tom, Dick, and Harry, who is languishing in prisons across Zambia, not just the dis-honourables. They stole, while others while trying to make the country ungovernable, let’s face it. Stealing or causing havoc with the idea that come the next government, you will be out. If ordinary Zambians can serve full prison terms, let the dis-honourables do the same! A convicted is a convict whether he sits behind a mahogany desk, sleeps in the gutter behind some market in far fetched corner of the country. Stop day dreaming, wake up and smell the coffee.