Maravi

Rupiah’s govt has become dictatorial, charges Milupi

Rupiah’s govt has become dictatorial, charges Milupi
By Florence Bupe
Sun 11 Apr. 2010, 04:01 CAT

LUENA independent member of parliament Charles Milupi has charged that the President Rupiah Banda’s government has become dictatorial and put to shame the democratic vision of 1991.

In an interview, Milupi said the current leadership was concentrating on hanging on to power by all means at the expense of democratic and economic development.

“There are many underhand methods being used by the current leadership. We know there’s abuse of state resources aimed at hanging on to power. It is sad that our leadership is putting to shame the very cause we fought for in 1991, the spirit of multi-partism,” he said.

Milupi called on political players to ensure that the country adopts a prudent leadership that would promote the tenets of democracy and prioritise the betterment of Zambians economically.

He lamented that most politicians had lost their focus and were more interested in the power grip.

“It is frustrating that we have moved our political debate from real issues and decided to concentrate on cut- throat politics,” Milupi said.

“Most politicians are dragging the country backwards and have totally lost their vision.”

He said the current politicking of accusations and counter accusations by both the ruling party and the opposition would not in any way help the electorate, but instead heighten tension in the country.

Milupi condemned the current trend of threats and violence in the country’s political circles, adding that the environment was undemocratic.

“We should not use violence as a tool to power. We need to allow people to extend their views without undue threats,” Milupi said. “Otherwise we are trapped in a time warp of dictatorship.”

And Milupi has described the ongoing issuance of National Registration Cards (NRCs) as ridiculous.

“Why should we just have the NRC issuance when we are heading for elections? An NRC is a basic requirement of any citizen, so to have people queuing up all day due to the limited time allocation given to them to obtain this document is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.

Milupi said the manner in which the exercise was being done also opened up loopholes for electoral malpractices.

“I’m aware of certain politicians who can actually change the demographic nature of an area to favour themselves in terms of votes; some are even facilitating the registration of refugees so that they have more voters. The issuance of NRCs should be every day, with or without an election,” said Milupi.

Meanwhile, Milupi has appealed to the ruling MMD to desist from electoral malpractices in the forthcoming Milanzi and Mufumbwe by- elections as this would make other parties follow suit.

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, MMD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:41 PM