Africa-Press – Zambia. SOME opposition political parties have challenged the police to produce evidence indicating that they are allowed to hold rallies.
On Monday, Police Spokesperson Ray Hamoonga said opposition parties were allowed to hold rallies but that they opted to postpone them.
Commenting on the remarks in an interview, Tuesday, PF deputy Secretary General Brenda Nyirenda said opposition parties had resorted to holding meetings behind closed doors due to the police’s refusal to allow them to hold rallies.
“If we were allowed, would we just be sitting? If we were given permission, we would go ahead. What would be so hard for us to hold a rally? It’s because they are trying to gag the opposition, but I’m happy that the people out there know that the police are doing it deliberately. People have decided to know who is best, because you can’t continue blocking your opponents.
At the end of the day, you just sell them more. Let him [Ray Hamoonga] produce evidence showing we’re allowed. Because if opposition parties have to meet, they have to meet under a roof in closed doors, maybe in a house, in a lodge. This is what is happening, but it’s fine. One day, Zambia is going to be liberated,” said Nyirenda.
New Heritage Party President Chishala Kateka also challenged the police to produce names of opposition parties that had been allowed to hold rallies.
“I think that Ray Hamoonga should produce that evidence because as far as we’re concerned as the New Heritage Party, we’ve never had an approval, ever. So, I don’t know what he’s talking about, and I think he should be more specific and name the parties that have had approval and then those who have since postponed. We’ve never had any approval. If they don’t give us permission, how does Elvis Nkandu know that we can’t pull big numbers? What’s the basis of that statement? Zambia has leadership mediocrity. People make statements without thinking them through,” said Kateka.
“If they don’t give us permission, what proof does he have that we can’t pull numbers? Let the police do the right thing. First of all, the police must understand that their job is not to give us permission. Their job is to offer public service to people, whether they are private citizens, opposition parties, or even the ruling party. Their duty is not to only give services to the ruling party. When we form government as the New Heritage party, we’ll restore order and get rid of this mediocre leadership”.
Meanwhile, Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) president Sean Tembo said it was a mockery to the opposition for the police to allege that they allow them to hold rallies when in fact not.
“That’s a mockery to the opposition. The police are basically mocking us because on several occasions we have applied to hold a rally and they have declined. Sometimes they have declined at the last minute when we have spent money making arrangements, then they cancel the rally.
So, for the police to say that is a big mockery to the opposition, and it’s really reflective of the levels of integrity within the Zambia Police. It is not enough that they are denying us permission to hold rallies, but they have to even go further and mock us. That’s very regrettable,” said Tembo.
“What we expect from the police is to exercise fair play in the sense that in the same way they have allowed the ruling party to gather whenever they want to gather, we should be equally allowed to gather whenever we want to gather, that’s fair play. The same way the ruling party is treated is the same way we, the opposition, must be treated when it comes to gatherings. We’ve had incidents whereby the police have arrested people at their homes for alleged unlawful assembly”.
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