By Isaac Zulu
It is luaghable for President Hakainde Hichilema to go to the Copperbelt masquerading that he is their to inspect developmental projects when in fact he is their for political campaigns, says Davies Chama.
Speaking in an interview, Chama, who is the Patriot Front national chairman, explained that the UPND government has not embarked on the construction and completion of capital developmental projects that the Head of State would take pride in inspecting.
Chama explained that most of the capital projects that President Hakainde Hichilema is inspecting on the Copperbelt Province during his “two-day work visit on the region were a brain child of the PF government.”
“To start with, it is a well known fact that there are by-elections in two constituencies on the Copperbelt Province; whose election date is October 21. And for the UPND administration to tell the nation that the President is on the Copperbelt Province to inspect development projects when there are by-elections taking place in the region is not being truthful,” Chama explained. “The fact of the matter is that the UPND government wants to pretend that they are executing developmental projects, when in the actual fact the Head of State is on campaign trail on the Copperbelt Province. The people of Zambia should know that most of the major or capital projects that the UPND government is saying President Hakainde Hichilema is inspecting on the Copperbelt Province during his two-day work visit were initiated by the Patriot Front government. Therefore, it is laughable for President Hakainde Hichilema to be masquerading that he is on the Copperbelt Province to inspect development projects in the region. It is a well known fact that those projects they are currently talking about were initiated by the PF.”
Chama, who also served as defence minister in the Edgar Lungu led PF administration, charged that Zambia’s democratic space has started shrinking under the UPND government.
“The High Court re-affirmed itself on the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections, just like the Constitutional Court did. And it is only important that the UPND get to respect the Court judgments, whether they like or dislike those Court decisions. But in this particular regard the UPND leadership has opted to disregard the decisions being made by the Courts of Law. There is no respect for the rule of law,” said Chama. “This is an indication that institutions of governance are suffocated and are not operating independently. And this is a clear indication that our democratic space is shrinking under the UPND government.”
He also charged that the UPND has always been scared of meeting the PF in the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections, saying it is for this reason that the “UPND administration has been using all kinds of manipulations to deter the former ruling party from participating in the said by-elections.”
“Democracy is about the exchange of political ideas on how you want to improve the welfare of the Zambian people. But it appears our colleagues in the UPND do not want to engage in that discourse,” he said.
Chama further said that the Patriot Front is still the strongest opposition political party in the country, adding that had the PF accorded an opportunity to field candidates in the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections, the former ruling party would have emerged victorious.
