By Jessica Mwansa
THE United Party for National Development (UPND) administration should stop silencing us and get busy with fulfilling their campaign promises, Citizens First (CF) president Harry Kalaba has said.
But Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa has charged that there is nothing peculiar about unsubstantiated statements from the opposition and people like Mr. Kalaba who were accustomed to theft, cadreism, and pangas from the previous regime, which President Hakainde Hichilema has done away with.
Speaking to The Scoop, Mr. Kalaba said instead of shifting gears and getting to work, the UPND was allegedly introducing their so-called “imingalato” to suppress the opposition political party leaders.
“There has been harassment, prosecution, and interference in matters relating to opposition political parties, extrajudicial punishment and torture. The UPND should instead focus on fulfilling their campaign promises which they have failed to achieve,” Mr. Kalaba said.
Mr. Kalaba said it was unfortunate that external forces had continued cheering them on even when the economy was deteriorating.
“The economy under the UPND administration has remained significantly embattled with an exchange rate that is in freefalling with the cost of living that is significantly escalating and exacerbating poverty levels while youth unemployment has gone high,” he said.
Mr. Kalaba said there was a need for the UPND administration to ensure that they met their campaign promises by seeing through the enactment of the Access to Information (ATI) Bill which was in Parliament.
But Mr. Mweetwa dispelled assertions of a shrinking democratic space in the country adding that members of the opposition political parties were free to hold political gatherings whenever they wanted without any intimidation.
“The opposition should stop misleading the citizens of this country if they cannot appreciate the works that the Government has done and continues to do. Mr. Kalaba should stop making statements that are of no basis because such statements cannot be substantiated. These are products of political conjecture.
“We want to reiterate that the existence of the New Dawn administration is a direct creation of the collective will of the people of Zambia who voted out the Patriotic Front and saw it fit to vote us into Government. The violent reactions from the opposition are as a result of them not being happy with President Hakainde Hichilema because he has closed the valves of theft, cadreism, and pangas,” Mr. Mweetwa said.
He urged the opposition to conduct their meetings peacefully without dragging the UPND Government in their uncertainties.
“The opposition need to know that under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema, the rule of law shall apply to the latter and certain acts of deliberate political provocation will not be entertained. Any group of people or political parties who want to enjoy their human rights, their fundamental freedoms and civil liberties will be allowed to do so in Zambia within the framework of the law,” he said.
He also called on the civil society to take advantage of the conducive political environment to conduct their activities freely, unlike under the previous regime where they were suppressed.
“The civil society should begin to conduct civic education so that those who are in leadership positions should not deliberately or ignorantly mislead unsuspecting citizens of the country,” he said.
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