ZAMBIA’S POLITICAL SPACE SHRINKING

…the Socialist Party is accusing the UPND of having weaponised the State Security system to harass, fight political opponents

By SHARON ZULU

THE continued abuse of State security in harassing and fighting political opponents is shrinking the political space in Zambia, the Socialist Party has observed.

Joseph Chibanga, the Socialist Party mobilisation member says the Patriotic Front (PF) lost power because the former ruling party abused the State security to intimidate and fight its political opponents.

Mr Chibanga said the UPND government should have learnt from what had happened to the PF and should have charted a different and more civilized style of conducting politics while in power. 

He said the PF lost power due to the misuse of the Zambia police and it was disheartening that history was repeating itself, cautioning that the UPND was making itself unpopular and unwanted to Zambians because it had adopted the same arrogant and uncaring attitude that had been rejected.

“The political space in Zambia is fast shrinking in Zambia under the UPND government. The UPND has converted the Zambia Police into a tool of oppression and repression…the same things   that forced Zambians to vote out the PF. We are experiencing the highest forms of intolerance under the UPND and the UPND should know that Zambians hate violence,” Mr Chibanga said.

Mr Chibanga said the Zambia Police should never be used as a tool to oppress political opponents but protect the society irrespective of their political and social status in society.

He said it was shocking that the UPND had embarked on a dangerous political trajectory of converting the Zambia Police into a tool of repression against its perceived political foes.

Mr Chibanga said     there was a likel;hood that the UPND was going to fall in the same way the PF had fallen because the ruling party had failed to abandon aggression as a means of governing the country.

Mr Chibanga said Zambians were expecting the UPND government to govern the country differently from the PF but that things had remained the same and in some cases worse that what citizens had anticipated.

He says, Zambians should be worried that they voted for a political party that is now bringing confusion in the country.

“People of Zambia are now regretting having voted for the UPND because they did not expect what is currently happening. Had they known the UPND was going to be worse than the PF, I think they would have chosen to vote for a better party than the UPND,” Mr Chibanga said.

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