By Isaac Zulu
Economic and Equity Party leader Chilufya Tayali has charged that President Hakainde Hichilema’s “total failure” has led him to start arresting opposition leaders who are calling him to account.
Speaking in an interview, Tayali said that the UPND government is using dictatorial tendencies to silence opposition political parties in the country.
“They promised a a lot things before forming government. They promised to reduce the cost of living, they promised to reduce the price of mealie meal and fuel and increase the number of bags of fertilizer under the Farmer Input Support Programme. To the contrary they have reduced the number of bags of fertilizer and seed and now want to phase out FISP,” Tayali said. “But what we have noticed is that there is total failure in the UPND government when it comes to fulfilling their campaign promises. And when people, especially those of us who are in politics, talk and remind them about their failures; they are using dictatorial tendencies to silence us. The UPND administration is using dictatorial tendencies to gag us.”
He said that the opposition political parties are merely reminding the UPND government to fulfill their campaign pledges, saying that this should not warrant any arrest of leaders of opposition political parties.
“Today is the second anniversary of the UPND forming government. And upon forming government, President Hakainde Hichilema promised to uphold the rule of law. And most of the people, including me, were excited and thought that we will have some fresh air. But today we are seeing the complete opposite… there are abitrary arrests of leaders of opposition political parties aimed at gagging them,” Tayali. “And this is tantamount to dictatorship. Actually we anticipate more arrests. Indeed the democratic space is shrinking under the UPND government.”
Tayali also said that it has now dawned on the New Dawn administration that being in government is not as easy as they thought while in opposition.
“They thought being in government is a simple undertaking. And that is why they promised things that they cannot fulfill. Now the reality has dawned on them. It has dawned on the UPND administration that is not as easy as they thought when they were in opposition,” said Tayali.
