Fri, 07 Jul 2017 10:47:58 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA
HAKAINDE Hichilema promised that there will be Armageddon after elections therefore it is only logical to suspect that the current spate of fire is as a result of his statement, the Patriotic Front (PF) has charged.
Patriotic Front (PF) media director Sunday Chanda has since demanded that Mr. Hichilema must withdraw his Armageddon remarks and tame his anger and frustration because it had become acidic.
Following Mr. Hichilema’s promise, the United Party for National Development (UPND) thugs at the instigation of their party leadership have become intolerably violent and are daring the police and peaceful members of the public, he said.
“There is no way Mr. Hichilema should not take responsibility and withdraw his Armageddon statement because it could potentially incite these well planned criminal operatives who are serving narrow political interests to paralyse the country economically, render Zambia ungovernable and instill fear and a sense of insecurity in citizens,” Mr. Chanda said. He said documented evidence was available on how UPND members beat up and in an ethnic-cleansing fashion, chased non-Southerners from Namwala District after Mr. Hichilema lost the election.
In a statement, Mr. Chanda said UPND started with burning of administration officers in Western province.
“The fire proceeded to burn a public school in Chongwe, a court building in Kabwe was gutted. Kamwala market followed suit before a school in Kafue followed suit.
“Zesco pylons in Kafue and in Ndola were not spared with this fire, in the end City Market was added to the list,” he said.
Mr. Chanda said with due regard to any ongoing investigations, it was only logical to conclude that the current spate of arson on key economic infrastructure in Lusaka, Ndola and other places was not an accident at all unless someone can prove otherwise.
“Democracy was never designed to be abused to a point where it becomes a danger to the good of the nation. Political freedoms must exist alongside law and order if society is to democracy is to flourish. That being the case, Government must do all it can to protect its citizens using all lawful means provided for under the Zambian Constitution,” he said.
Mr. Chanda was reacting to the picture being painted by the UPND they were victims of political persecution and that the country was in a political turmoil.
“We hope to set the records right that everything in the country is under control and a few selfish and disgruntled politicians must not be allowed to set the country ablaze.
“We would like to inform Zambians and the international community both home and abroad that the political disorder that the UPND is painting locally and abroad is a figment of the opposition party members who are playing victim to send wrong signals of the purported Zambia’s ungovernable,” he said.
Mr. Chanda said the truth was that the purported police violence and intolerance from the Patriotic Front (PF) ruling party was non-existent since it was an invention of the opposition which was out to tarnish the image of the country to the outside world.
