THE violence that characterised this year’s Youth Day commemoration against PF members in Kitwe, Ndola and Kasama is an indictment against the UPND government under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema, Patriotic Front (PF) chairperson for information and publicity Raphael Nakacinda has said.
Mr Nakacinda said President Hichilema should care know that his international friends, especially the Western countries that he is hoodwinking that he is a democrat should realise that the head of State did not mean what he preached.
He claimed that there had been instructions from the UPND leadership to allow no more than 50 PF youths in each province to march so that the ruling party red regalia was not diminished with the white and green colours of the former ruling party.
Mr Nakacinda recalled that President Hichilema upon ascending to power had promised Zambians that he was going to unite the country by avoiding the temptation of vengeance, persecution, retribution and political violence but that his pledges had turned out to be false.
He said the people should partner with the opposition to continue condemning violence because it was casting the UPND as a violent and autocratic regime that did not believe in political parties’ co-existence.
“Zambians must know that they need to partner with the opposition, continue condemning violence so that it is removed from our governance system. We shudder to imagine what is to come in the next three years looking at what is at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). Just look at what he is doing with civil service and what he is doing with all the institutions. Now he is removing the Auditor General, Dr Dick Sichembe and he is going to remove all those who are working professionally from the civil and public service,” Mr Nakacinda said.
Mr Nakacinda accused the state police of working together with UPND operatives to brutalise PF youths in Kitwe, Ndola and Kasama for only turning out in large numbers for the Youth Day celebrations.
He explained that in Kitwe it was even worse because the President himself was in attendance at Arthur Davies Stadium and could not allow PF youths to enter the venue for the march past. He said the UPND came up with a strategy to try and undermine the attendance of PF members by suggesting that the opposition party should only be allowed 50 youths to march at every point where the commemorations were taking place.
