Maravi

UPND reapplies for rally permit

UPND reapplies for rally permit
By Allan Mulenga
Wed 12 Sep. 2012, 10:05 CAT

UPND members have notified police of their intention to hold a rally in Lusaka's Kanyama compound this Sunday. But the police have advised UPND members against going ahead with the rally because of security concerns. In an interview yesterday, UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma hoped that the police would give them a go ahead with the rally.

"We applied because the excuse that they gave was that they were all going to watch football in Ndola and next Sunday there is no soccer game. We expect them not to create another excuse. Otherwise, we will conclude that their real agenda is to ban the opposition from holding rallies in this country," he said.

Asked on why the party decided to give a fresh notice when it was still contesting the cancellation of another rally in the same area by the courts of law, Kakoma said:

"That is a specific matter relating to the cancellation of that rally, but this is another rally coming and there will be many more rallies. We will continue to do so throughout the country. We have already given the notice to the Lusaka Province commissioner Dr Jere himself."

Kakoma said UPND lawyers were preparing papers for filing in court for contempt over the cancellation of the rally.

"The judicial review is still coming up and the fact that they disobeyed the court order, our lawyers are preparing necessary documents to file in court for contempt. We are compiling the necessary papers. We haven't filed in the papers yet," he said.

Kakoma accused Attorney General Mumba Malila of not being sincere over the cancellation of the rally.

Attorney General Malila said the order was not served on him during working hours but dropped at his house in the night.

"I think the Attorney General is playing a hide-and -seek game because the permanent secretary Ministry of Justice knew about it. Dr Jere himself was served with the judicial review and himself (Malila) was also served with the judicial review. I think it is sufficient that when somebody is aware, and he read the order himself, that should have been sufficient enough for him to take measures to ensure that they obey the court order. He received the order it doesn't mean that it has to find him in the office," said Kakoma.

But Police spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela said the police had advised the UPND not to go ahead with the rally for security concerns.

"Yes, they have given us a notice for the rally. However, we have advised them not to go ahead. We still believe that due to security indicators that are in that area, it is not safe for them to go ahead.

One thing we have to confirm is that we the police are non-partisan. We are doing this for the sake of public safety. We advised them not to go ahead and we will continue talking to them," said Kanjela in an interview yesterday.

Labels: CHARLES KAKOMA, MUMBA MALILA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 4:42 PM