Maravi

Police allow PF on C/belt to hold demo

Police allow PF on C/belt to hold demo
Written by Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe

POLICE in Kitwe have allowed the Patriotic Front (PF) to hold a demonstration today. And PF Nkana member of parliament Mwenya Musenge has charged that President Rupiah Banda is a coward, having abandoned workers on their day to go to his birthplace in Zimbabwe.

In a letter to Musenge, Kitwe district police commanding officer Nelson Phiri allowed PF to hold its planned peaceful procession over the job losses in the mining industry.

"I acknowledge receipt of your notice to hold a procession on 2nd May, 2009 dated 24th April, 2009," Phiri stated. "Be informed that you can proceed with your intentions as long as you address the following:- 1. You make adjustments to the route to take from the assembly point Fire Brigade, you take Chingola- Kitwe Road, turn to the left into Freedom Avenue up to Freedom Park. 2. You organise enough marshals to police the procession as this aspect of security will mostly be in your hands. You make sure that your procession will not degenerate into disorder. This has been necessitated by the fact that 1st May, 2009, a day before the proposed date of your procession is Labour Day and as such police countrywide will be engaged in the policing of the national event. This entails that it is not feasible for us to police another function of the magnitude of your function adequately. Hence the need for you to organise enough marshals and take a route that is easy to police."

The PF want to demonstrate to show solidarity with miners who had lost jobs on the Copperbelt and the high prices of mealie-meal, among other issues.

And Musenge in an interview said it was total cowardice for President Banda to be in Zimbabwe on Labour Day, which fell yesterday when he was supposed to be in the country confronting the massive job losses that miners faced.

"He should have been here to try and console the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs in the mines instead of going to his birthplace," Musenge said. "He should have been here to try and offer solutions to the threats of further job losses but in such a time, you have a leader who I can only term as a coward."

He said President Banda had failed to assure workers of the plans that he had in assuring job creation and saving the jobs that were left.

"PF on the Copperbelt is not taking part in the Labour Day celebrations in protest against the job losses," he said. "It is even meaningless for those who are still working to take part in the Labour Day celebrations because their jobs are also under threat; there is no job security."

He said it was a shame that some retrenched miners' benefits were withheld by banks and that the government was not there to help the workers begin a new life after losing their jobs.

Musenge said the government should have been in the forefront intervening to ensure that the retrenched miners got their packages and continued to service their loans with the banks they owed.

He urged trade unionists to speak strongly for workers and against job losses.

Musenge charged that some trade unionists were compromised and failed to take on the government strongly over job losses.

Labels: COPPERBELT PROVINCE, DEMONSTRATION, PF

posted by MrK @ 3:40 PM