Sat, 06 May 2017 14:33:56 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
SOME individuals with criminal minds are after my life but this is not the way we are supposed to play our politics because we will set a bad precedence if those targeted retaliate since all of us are capable of doing so, Party for National Unity (PNU) leader Highvie Hamududu has said.
Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr. Hamududu said his life was under threat as some people suspected to be sent by political opponents were allegedly trailing him and making calls to threaten him.
He said it was unfortunate that Zambain politicians had diverted from issue-based politics to petty threats against opponents, a trend he said was retrogressive and had no bearing on the development of the country.
He warned that those who were peddling politics of name-calling, intimidation and insults risked leaving a bad precedence of violence and anarchy in an event that those who were targeted resorted to the same as everybody had the power to do so.
“Some people are after me. They have been calling me on strange numbers and threatening my life and I suspect these are from my political opponents but this is not the best way we should be conducting our politics. The competition in politics should be about ideas and not threats and intimidation.
“This country is looking for a transformed way of practising politicks based on ideas. We risk setting a very bad precedence as this country may be in turmoil if people continued with this kind of politicks especially when those they are attacking decide to retaliate. All of us are capable of retaliating when provoked but this is not the politics that Zambians want,” Mr. Hamududu said. He said all politicians had a duty to make Zambia a better place to live in by bringing to the fore issues that affected citizens and devising solutions to counter the challenges, adding that all politicians had a duty towards nation-building.
“For me, I would rather we compete on ideas because I believe politicks should be about ideas on how we can contribute to the development of this country because we all have a duty to do so. Instead of threatening one another, I would rather we compete on how we can make life better for our people.
“I believe this is time for clean politics and not threats which do not help our people,’’ Mr Hamududu said.
