Its total madness for PF to stop rallies – Eric Chanda

4TH REVOLUTION Party leader Eric Chanda says it is total madness  for the PF to deny any citizen of Zambia the freedom of association.

On Friday, Vice-President Inonge Wina told Parliament that the government would not allow the opposition to take advantage of the challenges on the Copperbelt to provoke people.
Responding to a question by Kalomo Central UPND member of parliament Request Muntanga, who said the government was turning Zambia into a police state by denying his party opportunities to hold rallies on the Copperbelt, Vice-President Wina said the state could not allow the opposition to take advantage of the volatile situation in the province.
“Mr Speaker, let’s not turn politics into an arena of confrontation. To hold a meeting in order to provoke somebody else cannot be allowed. Mr Speaker, you know well that Copperbelt is experiencing a lot of problems so for a political party [the UNPD] to take advantage of that situation cannot be allowed,” said Vice-President Wina during her question time session in the House.
“Another reason why the rallies were stopped was to do with security concerns.”
Her statement in Parliament came a few days after Copperbelt police disrupted a meeting that the Rainbow Party convened at some residence for unknown reasons.
Police sources disclosed that President Edgar Lungu had ordered them to stop issuing permits for any political gatherings until December when he would have made his second tour of the province.
Earlier, Copperbelt police refused to grant UPND permission to hold meetings in the province, saying there wasn’t enough manpower to police their gatherings.
But Chanda said it was unfair for the government to stop the opposition from campaigning.
“I think it is very unfair because just a few days ago, we had one political party called PF in an open rally campaigning for 2016 for their presidential candidate called Edgar Lungu. So what are they saying that campaigns have not yet opened? You tell them that every citizen in this country has got the freedom of association and no one has got the right to stop citizens from associating with other people. It is total madness for PF to deny any citizen of this country the freedom of association,” Chanda said.
“Of course, we know that the police are not acting on their own but there is an invisible hand that is asking them to do whatever they are doing. Now what the police should understand is that some of these politicians who are giving them directives are ignorant. Batutu abapwililika nganshi (they are completely dull). They don’t understand the laws of this country. What they are just trying to do is to make the job of police officers very difficult.”
He advised police to resist political interference.
“They are making officers look like they have never been to school. I know that the IG comrade (Stella) Libongani has been to school but I want to ask her to apply her own wisdom and what she has learnt from school. She should take a leaf from one man whom I still hold in high esteem. He was so professional and avoided political interference, Inspector General Ephraim Mateyo. Maybe it was because he worked with a leadership that understood the law of the land. President [Levy] Mwanawasa was a lawyer and he followed the Constitution,” said Chanda.  – See more at: http://www.postzambia.com/news.php?id=13334#sthash.SeZ0O1Fb.dpuf