De-register violent political parties

Mon, 26 Dec 2016 10:20:38 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

THE Registrar of Society should de-register political parties involved in violence to bring sanity to the political scenario in the country, Green Party president, Peter Sinkamba has said.

Speaking in an interview, Mr Sinkamba said the Registrar of Societies has not been proactive in cautioning and reminding political parties of how they should behave as regards the rules and regulations that govern political parties and their conduct.

He said the Registrar of Societies should be blamed for the es-calating violence the country had been experiencing because the Society had the power to punish political parties that were perpetrating violence.

“We blame the violence that has been escalating since June in the country on the Registrar of Societies who is not guiding the political parties well. In our view, political parties perpe-trating violence should face serious sanctions such as de-registration because only then would the scourge be curbed,” Mr Sinkamba said.

He said while the regulations of party de-registration were clear, there was need for the Registrar of Societies to speak out on the current political environment in the country and cau-tion political parties which were breaking the country’s laws with impunity.

He said it was sad that the Police were left with the responsi-bility of regulating political parties, adding that the pressure they got from the added work is what led them into manhan-dling people.

Mr Sinkamba said the political parties perpetrating violence and exhibiting hooliganism should be de-registered with im-mediate effect.

He said he was ready to speak to Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo to effect changes at the office of the Regis-trar because according to him, there seemed to be deliberate inertia to act on violent political parties.

He appealed to political parties to follow the right procedure in airing their grievances and not resort to violence.