No need for state of emergency – Chanda

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 11:58:40 +0000

By SANDRA MACHIMA & AARON CHIYANZO

THERE is no need for a state of emergency to be declared on account of one individual breaking the law with impunity, says New Congress Party leader Peter Chanda.

He however advised the opposition UPND sympathisers to be remorseful and stop issuing alarming statements because it could not be disputed that their leader Hakainde Hichilema and his entourage were wrong for having blocked the President’s way in Mongu.

Mr Chanda said the UPND must apologise to the nation because that was lawlessness at its worst.

He said Zambia was a democratic nation and guided by such tenets, saying if President Lungu was a dictator he would not have spared the UPND.

He alleged that the UPND was testing the grounds to see how people would react to certain situations to satisfy their political interests and gain empathy from sections of society.

“The UPND supporters must tone down and stop alarming the nation because their leader is just an individual who knows what he was doing and therefore they must not relate such to seek sympathy. But instead must change and contribute dearly to this country’s development,” he said.

Mr Chanda said the presidency was a sacred office that was protected by law and that none of the countries in the world would have tolerated the Mongu incident.

“I witnessed the incident in Mongu when some hired cadres from Lusaka manhandled a police officer who was trying to give instructions, and most of the cadres who accompanied the opposition UPND are from here in Lusaka,” he said.

Mr Chanda said the opposition leader did not just disrespect the President alone, but even the Litunga of the Lozi people who had cautioned politicians not to politicise the ceremony.

He said Zambians should be reminded that those who were arrested with Mr Hakainde were cadres from Lusaka and not Western Province.

He said it was clear that assertions that there was tension in Western Province were not true because the people from Lusaka were the ones who wanted to bring confusion.

Mr Chanda said Zambians expected politics of development and not of vengeance, adding that even the late President Michael Sata made past governments work because of the way he provided thorough checks and balances.

But National Opposition Alliance spokesperson Cozmo Mumba has called on President Lungu to call for a state of emergency because the security of Zambia has been threatened as evidenced by the calamities occurring after the arrest of Hichilema

He said the fires recorded in Zambia and the presidential motorcade accident in Mpika were not coincidences.

Dr Mumba, who is National Revolution Party (NRP) president, called on the Head of State to exercise his powers as enshrined in the Constitution and call for state of emergency.

He said that there had never been a time when a presidential motorcade was involved in an accident because of a tyre burst.

Dr Mumba said that the burning of tyres by some UPND cadres protesting the arrest of Mr Hichilema was also evidence that the security of the nation was at stake. “Looking at the incident that happened in Mongu and now the presidential motorcade being involved in an accident, it is evident that the security of the country has been threatened.

“Even the fires we are now hearing about, the riots in Livingstone and the burning of tyres by some cadres. President Lungu should exercise his powers and call for state of emergency” he said. Dr Mumba reiterated that the state of emergency would ensure that all the people threatening the security of the nation were brought to book.

He explained that the state of emergency would allow state agents to investigate all the incidences and people threatening to plunge the nation in turmoil as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Dr Mumba said that unscrupulous people had been sending him death threats because he had been supporting President Lungu.

He said that he and the other leaders of the 15 opposition political parties making the NOA had resolved at a recent meeting to support President Lungu.

Dr Mumba called on the Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja to provide them with security because their lives were in danger.