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MMD should be voted out of govt says, Mwanamwelwa

MMD should be voted out of govt says, Mwanamwelwa
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 18 June 2010, 04:01 CAT

UNEMPLOYMENT Association of Zambia president Mpundu Mwanamwelwa has said the MMD is losing the confidence of the people and should be voted out of government next year.

And Post editor Fred M’membe said although some may look at Mwanamwelwa’s view as treason, it was his democratic right to demand the removal of government through peaceful means.

Speaking when he and his delegation paid a courtesy call on M’membe following his release from prison at The Post offices, Mwanamwelwa said the MMD had lost the confidence the people had in them.

He said those in the government were now bitting the same freedom of speech they claimed to champion.

“They should not lead by force. As I have mentioned that democracy places authority in the hands of the people. What has been going round the country, the only solution Mr M’membe is to remove this government by next year,” Mwanamwelwa said.

“We will have no stone unturned unless the people of Zambia make another mistake because the unemployed in Zambia have been abused and they are dying everyday. We want leaders who will be proclaiming freedom to high levels of unemployment and poverty levels. We want those leaders who will suffer first for us to eat, us to have employment, not what is happening.”

Mwanamwelwa expressed concern at the political bickering, saying citizens were more interested in development.

He said M’membe was not alone in the struggle for a better Zambia. Mwanamwelwa described M’membe as John the Baptist, the voice of one speaking in the wilderness.

And M’membe said unemployment dehumanises a human being. M’membe said it was very difficult to live as a dignified citizen if one was not employed.

He said it was the duty of the government to create employment for its citizens.
M’membe said politicians usually campaigned that they would create jobs once they were elected into office.

“I don’t know if, since the current President was elected, unemployment has reduced, if poverty has reduced, if his actions and those of his government seriously reflect that desire to reduce unemployment and to reduce poverty. This is for Zambians to judge for themselves,” he said.

On Mwanamwelwa’s statement to remove the MMD government next year, M’membe said Mwanamwelwa had the right to hold that view but it might sound treasonable to others.

“That is a democratic right you have as a citizen of this country to remove any government that you don’t desire, peacefully through free and fair elections. Immediately that right is removed from the citizen to remove a government that they don’t desire through peaceful means, through elections, then democracy ceases,” M’membe said.

“It is only possible for people to remove a government that they do not desire peacefully if there are free and fair elections that truly reflect the wishes of the people.”

M’membe said it seemed something very good and beautiful was coming out from his imprisonment because if it were not so, he would not have met Mwanamwelwa and listened to the wisdom he possessed.

“The other thing that this incarceration has done is to consolidate solidarity. Without this imprisonment I don’t think the words of solidarity you are expressing today would have been expressed; crisis creates ideas. It is not what we have been writing that is creating all these crises’,” M’membe said.

“The more they tried to suppress us, humiliate us, the more they are increasing our cooperation and our capacity to mobilise each other, our capacity to reach out to each other.”

M’membe told Mwanamwelwa and his colleagues that they had a right to a decent life, right to reasonable access to health care and to have their children educated.

M’membe thanked Mwanamwelwa for the visit saying The Post was greatly indebted and would repay the debt through working hard to better the lives of the people.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, FRED M'MEMBE, MMD, MPUNDU MWANAMWELWA

posted by MrK @ 5:44 AM