Hichilema stealing opposition seats – Sampa
By Phillip Banda
MATERO member of Parliament Miles Bwalya Sampa has accused President Hakainde Hichilema of employing “draconian tactics” to eliminate opposition lawmakers in a bid to secure a two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend the Constitution in his favour.
In a statement yesterday, Sampa alleged that unlike his predecessors Levy Mwanawasa, Michael Sata and Edgar Lungu, Hichilema had resorted to using law enforcement agencies and the Judiciary to systematically target opposition MPs.
“Unlike Mwanawasa, Sata and Lungu, Hichilema has used a draconian political tactic to gain numbers inside Parliament,” he said.
Sampa said instead of negotiating with opposition members of Parliament by offering them ministerial roles, Hichilema had unleashed police officers who were arresting them and taking them to court to convict them and create by-elections, a system aimed at weakening the opposition.
He recounted how former presidents managed fragile parliamentary majorities through negotiation and inclusion, rather than coercion.
“The first president who needed support from opposition MPs was Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. In 2001, Mwanawasa had to find a survival strategy or risk impeachment. He opted for the smarter, softer route offering ministerial positions to Heritage Party and FDD MPs. When Michael Sata came into power in 2011, he, too, had a near-hung Parliament. But he simply recruited MMD MPs. I was personally involved in bringing them to State House where Sata welcomed them. He never arrested them. He negotiated,” Sampa said.
He said Lungu also followed the same path in 2016 when he incorporated opposition MPs, including from UPND, into his cabinet to achieve a two-thirds majority and amend the Constitution.
Sampa said but Hichilema had taken a more authoritarian path, which was a threat to the country’s democracy.
“From the onset, HH had a desire to change the Constitution. He tried to win over theiIndependent MPs, but instead of offering them roles, he gave them a speech. They later realigned with their original party, PF,” he said.
Sampa said after failing to win parliamentary petitions, the UPND-led administration turned to state machinery to eliminate opposition figures.
“Most, if not all, opposition PF and independent MPs whose seats were petitioned won at both High Court and Appeals Court levels,” he said.
“HH then changed strategy. He began using the police to arrest opposition MPs and slap them with politically motivated charges.”
Sampa named several opposition lawmakers whose convictions led to by-elections.
“In just two years, we have lost Bowman Lusambo, Joseph Malanji, Nixon Chilangwa, Ronald Chitotela, JJ Banda, Munir Zulu and now Maureen Mabonga to these arrests and convictions,” he said.
“These are families that have been destroyed so that Hichilema can get numbers in Parliament.”
Sampa warned that Hichilema’s approach could backfire badly.
“History will judge him harshly. Instead of dialogue, he has opted for brute force. He may not even achieve the two-thirds majority he desperately seeks to alter the Constitution. Watch the space closely,” he said.
