By Mubanga Mubanga
New Heritage party leader Chishala Kateka says President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) has become a dictator, the very thing that he condemned while in opposition.
And civil rights activist Brebner Changala says unleashing armed police on unarmed opposition members at the court premises was the worst form of intimidation.
Last week at the Lusaka magistrates’ complex, police confiscated placards from opposition political party leaders who held a silent protest. This was during the court session of Mfuwe member of parliament Maureen Mabonga who was sentenced to 8 months’ simple improvement, for seditious practices.
In an interview yesterday, Kateka said President Hichilema was a disappointment to himself and his party for allowing that kind of behavior by the police at court premises.
“And when we were saying ‘what this is?’, the police were looking ashamed. You know, the police themselves were looking ashamed at what they were being forced to do,” Kateka said. “We need to change, he needs to start doing things differently. He should redeem himself by becoming a normal person, not what he has become. He is a disappointment even to himself and to his party.”
Kateka said it was clear that President Hichilema was turning into a dictator.
“They are embarrassing themselves and it will be very clear, if it hasn’t already become clear, that our President has become a dictator. He has become a dictator, he has become the very thing he was condemning; even two times worse than what he was condemning. So we are very disappointed with that sort of behavior, because it is not something that (we) would expect from the Zambia Police,” she said.
And in a separate interview, Changala who was among the protesters at court said the UPND were showing their true colors by doing the very thing they used to condemn PF for. He said the UPND had disgraced Zambia’s image as well as themselves.
“Zambia’s democracy is damaged, both locally and internationally. This is an administration that came to power on the backbone of change. This is an administration that came to power on the backbone of the restoration of the rule of law,” Changala said. “It came like a wolf in the sheep’s skin. Their true colors have been exposed.They accused the Patriotic Front of being undemocratic. But they have proved to be a flip side of the previous regime and there is no accolade that is favorable to their abuse.”
Changala said unleashing armed police on unarmed opposition members at the court premises was the worst form of intimidation.
“The use of the police to come and invade the judiciary is the worst kind of state sponsored anarchy and the breakdown in the rule of law. We were in the court premises, rightly so, where there was a matter involving the MP for Mfuwe, and we were picketing. We were not violent, and we were not intimidating anybody. We were sending a message to those who are running state affairs,” said Changala.
