Police block 29 Socialist Party public rallies

Police block 29 Socialist Party public rallies

 By George Zulu

A TOTAL of 29 Socialist Party (SP) political rallies and mobilisation meetings have been blocked in the last four years the United Party for National Development (UPND) has been in power.

SP general secretary Dr Cosmas Musumali, said this when he featured on the Socialist Hour programme on Hot FM radio station.

Dr Musumali said in the four years the UPND and President Hakainde Hichilema had been in office, the country had experienced a quick shrinking of democratic space.

He condemned Hichilema and the UPND government for denying the opposition party democratic space by rejecting more than 29 notifications to hold political rallies.

“As a political party, we need to engage with the masses by sharing our ideas and vision. Four years down the line, the UPND has failed to fulfill its campaign promises. The promises have become a liability to both the party and President Hakainde Hichilema. In some quarters, he is even referred to as Bashi Promise, a leader who makes continuous promises without delivering,” he said.

Dr Musumali said the continued denial of permits was detrimental to the growth of Zambia’s democracy, which was a hallmark of good governance.

He said the UPND was a dictatorship because during the Patriotic Front (PF) administration, SP was granted at least two permits to hold public rallies.

Dr Musumali said the continued negation of campaign promises made in 2021 was not only a source of concern but a failure to promote democratic tenets and human rights.

He said while the UPND were refusing other political players to engage the general citizenry, Hichilema and other ruling party officials were busy holding rallies across the country ahead of next year’s general elections.

“We have applied for 29 rallies, and all have been denied. For the past four years, we have not held a single rally. At least under the PF government, we managed to hold two. In terms of building democratic space, the UPND has fared worse than the PF. That is unacceptable and dangerous. We cannot be in a country and society where some people are more people than others. This should come to an end,” Dr Musumali said.

He condemned the UPND for fostering and nurturing divisions in the country, warning that such developments threatened national unity, peace, and development.