By Nation Reporter
THE Patriotic Front (PF) has written a letter to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier in which it has listed an array of governance and human rights issues including the shrinking democratic space, deteriorating human rights abuses, the total breakdown of the rule of law and schemes to exterminate the Patriotic Front, the country’s largest opposition political party.
Given Lubinda, the PF vice president has also informed President Steinmeier that President Hakainde Hichilema has turned Zambia into a police state in which the police have been arresting and detaining opposition political party leaders and keeping them in prison without being charged.
Mr Lubinda has informed President Steinmeier that President Hichilema and his government have been scheming to adulterate the Constitution by expunging running mate and the 50%+1 as well as elongating the presidential term to seven years from five.
In a three-page letter dated November 2, 2023, Mr Lubinda said police brutality under President Hichilema had become the rule while the doctrine of the Separation of Powers had completely been dispensed with. He stated that under the UPND government, the Legislature and the Judiciary had been completely compromised and were operating under the instructions from the Executive, thereby rendering the governance system completely devoured. “Under Mr Hakainde Hichilema, opposition political parties are not allowed to assemble and have public political rallies or demonstrations because the UPND government resents dissenting views. Under President Hichilema, opposition political parties are not allowed to have indoor meetings and in Zambia today, civil society organisations leaders are arrested for simple cases such as hate speech and speaking against President Hichilema,” Mr Lubinda said.
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