…One party State as detentions are back

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:02:33 +0000

THE country has been taken backwards ever since the PF government took over power.

Renowned political analyst Dante Saunders, ADD president Charles Milupi and formerLuapulaProvinceminister Besa Chikamba  are all agreed that the events taking place in the country lately where opposition leaders are detained on flimsy grounds was not healthy for the development of democracy in the country. They charged that everything the PF government had done was a recipe for dictatorship.

Mr Milupi said it was saddening that the PF government was intimidating the opposition parties to prevent them from holding public rallies when he Mr Sata used to hold rallies just a day after losing the elections.

And Saunders said that there were very clear indications that the PF government was determined to re-introduce a one party state in Zambia going by the recent events in the country where everyone with opposing views  from the government of the day were targeted for detentions and harassment. Mr Saunders added that it appeared like President Sata was trying to silence all the strong opposition political parties as an easier way of turningZambiainto a one party state.

“There is no doubt here, the PF government is promoting a one party State, adding that seeing  what they were doing and saying now, it is clear thatZambiais headed for a dictator nation. What is bothering the Zambians are the statements leaders are making in public,” he observed.

Mr Saunders alleged that both President Sata and Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba wanted to imitateZimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe’s style of governance, where the rights of the people were not recognized.

“The behaviour of Mr Sata and Wynter Kabimba of trying to undermine
the intelligence of Zambians should not be entertained by anyone who means well for the democracy of the nation.

“They think that Zambian people are not seeing what is going on. This behaviour must be stopped now and we will not give up talking until they do what we feel is of benefit to all the people ofZambia,” he said.

Mr Saunders explained that the people ofZambia, including the PF members were irked by the excessive powers of one man whose actions had continued to undermine democracy in the country.

He said that the PF behaviour was becoming a source of worry and a threat to the nation, adding that the people would base their judgment on PF performance in the first term they had been in power.

Mr Milupi claimed that the intolerant politics the PF government was practicing was posing a threat to the country’s political democracy.

He said the opposition MMD was doing things in a better way, compared to what was happening in the PF.

Mr Milupi charged that what the country was experiencing was a recreation of a one party state that was disposed some years ago.

He said the arrest of MMD party president Nevers Mumba and some other members were not done in good faith.

Mr Milupi said it was disappointing that whenever there was a political gathering, the PF government was not comfortable

He wondered how the PF has changed suddenly because when they were in the opposition, they were against the same laws that limited the freedoms of the people.

Mr Milupi said the current administration of the Public Order Act by police with respect to the right to assembly and freedom of speech by the opposition political parties had left all reasonable Zambians confused under the current regime.