Press Statement
IT IS SHAMEFUL FOR PRESIDENT LUNGU TO SUPPORT DICTATORSHIP
As NDC Lusaka Province we wish to comment on President Edgar Lungu’s congratulatory message to his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni over his recent electoral victory during that country’s elections held on 14th January 2021.
We regret, like many others observed, to note that while most Heads of State have been reluctant to ‘congratulate’ Museveni because of the unfair manner in which the elections were conducted. President Lungu has since joined five (5) other leaders to offer his solidarity and felicitations to the Ugandan leader.
As NDC, we have nothing personal against Museveni and the people of Uganda. We actually sympathize with their plight. As citizens that have been practicing multiparty politics since 1991, we are appalled in the manner that the Uganda opposition was oppressed and denied space to conduct their campaigns. Currently, the main opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine is under house arrest simply for disputing the results of the elections.
Nigerian Human Rights Lawyer Femi Falana has since filed a complaint to the United Nations seeking support from the international community over Wine’s house arrest. Secondly, Wine has not been allowed to file a petition in court disputing the election ‘victory’ of Museveni.
Thirdly, the elections were characterised with political violence and social media was closed thereby making it difficult to follow events in Kampala.
While we may not be privy to the real situation regarding Wine, we vividly recall that Dr. Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe suffered the same fate while challenging Museveni in the recent past. It is against this background that we are deeply worried with the Zambian congratulatory message to Uganda.
However, we as NDC Lusaka Province are not shocked with President Lungu’s actions because he has been a ‘very good student’ of Museveni. When President Lungu was ‘elected’ as PF president in 2014, there was violence. Since ascending to power in 2015, President Lungu has been using the Police to stifle the opposition from campaigning.
All state institutions including the DMMU have been coerced to entrench the PF leadership.
Furthermore, emulating the Museveni style, President Lungu wants to go beyond his mandated two terms and illegally go for a third term. This is why we are not surprised with President Lungu’s message of goodwill to his ‘mentor.’
Fellow citizens, we are fortunate that Zambia is different from Uganda and, therefore, the ‘Museveni style of politics’ will not work in our internal elections this August.
We, therefore, urge you to strongly reject the PF and its dictatorial tendencies in the August elections. Our father of the nation Dr Kenneth Kaunda, though not perfect, initiated a peaceful and civilized manner of running our affairs and we should reject any leader with alien mentality that posses a risk to our democracy and the good loving people of Mother Zambia.
We have warned you.
Kennedy Siyanda
NDC LUSAKA PROVINCE CHAIRMAN
22.01.2021