Tue, 06 Feb 2018 07:23:20 +0000
By MUKOSELA KASALWE and SANDRA MACHIMA
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema should not be surprised if he is re-arrested because he has continued to issue alarming statements hinging on treason, says a member of the Patriotic Front, Christopher Chomba.
Mr Chomba said it was unfortunate that Mr Hichilema had continued to issue statements insinuating that President Edgar Lungu’s stay in power up to 2021 was not guaranteed and described them as baseless. In an interview yesterday, he said it was far fetched for Mr Hichilema to compare what transpired in Zimbabwe to Zambia as President Lungu was within his constitutional mandate which would end in 2021.
Mr Chomba said Mr Hichilema was careless with his words and that it was unacceptable in a democratic dispensation as he was seemingly inciting security wings to rise against a duly elected President.
“Mr Hichilema should be careful in the way he talks. Is he inciting the security wings to rise against a legitimately elected President? So he should not be surprised if he were to be re-arrested because his statement hinges on treason,” Mr Chomba said.
He said it was like Mr Hichilema had enjoyed his stay in prison and that if he would love to be taken back.
Mr Chomba urged the opposition leader to humble himself and wait for the right time which would be in 2021 if he felt he was popular enough to scoop the elections.
Speaking at a political rally in Mungule area of Central Province at the weekend, Mr Hichilema told the people not to be cowards.
He charged that Zambians should stop being cowards amidst suffering but must begin to take power in their hands and fight.
Mr Hichilema was in Mungule to tour selected farms that had been devastated by the drought.
And Zambia Republican party leader Wright Musoma has charged that Mr Hichilema should not incite people to replicate the regime change that happened in Zimbabwe because doing so was tantamount to treason.
Mr Musoma warned that it was wrong for Mr Hichilema to incite people to rise against a legitimately elected government.
He maintained that the reason the UPND leader was able to talk freely is because Zambia was a democracy.
He said remarks made by the opposition leader, stating that there is no guarantee that President Edgar Lungu will be in office up to 2021 because what happened in Zimbabwe can also happen in Zambia were unfounded and the people of Zambia should not listen to him.
Mr Musoma said there was no brutality in Zambia like was witnessed in Zimbabwe, noting it was for that reason Mr Hichilema had continued to stand and disgrace the government unnecessarily.
He said the onus still remained on the people of Zambia to judge for themselves based on the type of leadership he was portraying himself to be.
Mr Musoma wondered why the UPND had continued to call for early elections, instead of waiting for 2021.
