Maravi

Rupiah’s misrule is alarming, says Sata

Rupiah’s misrule is alarming, says Sata
By Patson Chilemba and George Chellah
Sat 20 Mar. 2010, 04:10 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday warned that threats to arrest those who want to demonstrate in favour of the red cards are only helping to unite more people against President Banda's misrule. And UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has said the UPND has joined the civil society organisations in the red card campaign.

Meanwhile, Syacheye Madyenkuku has observed that the arrests are just igniting the red card campaign. Commenting on home affairs minister Lameck Mangani's threat that Police had been instructed to arrest those who demonstrate in favour of the red card campaign, Sata said.

President Banda and his government were only provoking more reactions from the people and opposition groups were becoming more united as a result of the threats.

He said President Banda's failing government was panicking.

“People of Zambia from all walks of life have to find means of showing their disgust against Rupiah Banda's misrule. The government of Rupiah Banda is panicking because the money which could have been spent for the people, he is using it on aimless travels and carrying 400 people,” Sata said.

“So people have to show that they are not happy. The people should not be discouraged, and my warning to this government is they should not take the people of Zambia for granted because you might provoke more reaction from the country. Excessive provocations makes people to dare those who are excessively provoking them.”

Sata said the PF central committee would sit next week to decide on the party's participation in the red card campaigns.

He said President Banda's misrule was so alarming such that people were left with no option but to resort to expressing their freedom of expression through red cards.

Sata bemoaned the double standards being exercised by the police, saying the wanton arrests of PF members of parliament, Change Life Zambia executive director Fr Frank Bwalya and others were unnecessary.

He said currently those who were with President Banda could commit crimes like threatening to gang rape people but nothing was happening to them.

Sata said people could now commit crimes in the name of the President knowing very well that they would be protected.

“And our colleagues in the police, they should realize they are equally suffering like all of us. They have not received their meal rations for four months, and they are going in the forefront protecting a brutal regime by using violence,” Sata said. “Violence breeds violence.”

And Hichilema said it was both a civic and human right for citizens to express views for or against any issue.

He said it was a fact that the MMD had failed and people should be afforded the right to express their disgust through red cards.

“No matter what propaganda they may try to put up, it remains a fact that there are no desks, there are no adequate health arrangements in the country. Unemployment is high. Look at the floods in Kuku. So why shouldn't Zambians express their disgust?

And the red symbolises the people's disgust. This perception that you can suppress citizens is misplaced, it's parochial thinking,” Hichilema said. “We support, and we are part of the organisations that stand up against the MMD dictatorship. If my vice-president was there, we fully agree with the resolution. We fully disagree with government's deregistration of SACCORD.”

Hichilema said the MMD had been overtaken by UNIP vigilantes like William Banda and President Banda.

He condemned William Banda's intimidation of ministers, saying this could only happen in UNIP where sweepers could intimidate ministers.

He asked Mangani to take away his small mindedness on national issues.

“Tell Mangani to come and arrest me today. Yes, we will support the red card because it is absolutely a national agenda. At Buchi meeting where it was planned my vice-president was there.

After consultations I said 'honourable Kapita, go there', and by the way he was there,” Hichilema said.
Meanwhile, Madyenkuku condemned the government's intimidation of people that were advocating for the red card campaign.

“It has been proven through historical statistics that whenever you repress people that are trying to express themselves you actually ignite the desire to do so. The red card campaign is a civil manner of expressing a view and those who don't agree with it can also do a similar thing but obviously in a non-violent manner,” said Madyenkuku who is former sports minister.

“I think that 46 years after independence we should not see a situation where people are taken to court unless they have acted, they committed acts of violence but in the case of Fr Bwalya really I don't think that it was correct.”

Asked if arrests would encourage the red card campaign, Madyenkuku responded: “Yes! Because when you repress people it boomerangs. The intended goal of stopping them from doing what they are doing is actually ignited.”

He urged the government to put in place better priorities of utilising the police service.

“I would like on the basis of that, that we spend our resources in the right direction by putting correct priorities on the use of our police force who are already overstretched by a number of real demanding issues in combating crime and not to reduce them to arresting people who are merely expressing a political will,” he said.

Madyenkuku advised the state to withdraw unconditionally the case against Fr Bwalya.
“We don't want to have prisoners of conscious in Zambia after independence. Anybody who expresses his political will by non-violent means must not be persecuted whatsoever,” Madyenkuku said.

“This is one of the benefits of the struggle for independence. This is what Martin Luther King Junior started alongside other civil rights leaders in the United States after the liberation of the black people from slavery.

“I would like to urge the state to courageously withdraw the case, I don't want to go into the details of the case. I would like to urge government to withdraw that case instantly and without any condition.”

He said as a former political detainee, he was a proponent of expression of views through non-violent means.

“We dislodged the one-party system in 1991 in order to enhance our ability to express our desires and views whether they are political, social or indeed economic through non-violent means,” said Madyenkuku. “It will be a big change for that case to continue. It will tarnish Zambia's image badly in the eyes of the international community.”

On Friday, Mangani was quoted by the Daily Mail as having said he had instructed the police to arrest people that would go ahead with the red card campaign.

Labels: CORRUPTION, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, LAMECK MANGANI, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA, SYACHEYE MADYENKUKU

posted by MrK @ 11:58 AM