United Party for National Development, UPND, president Hakainde Hichilema says the brutality at the hands of the Zambia Police must immediately come to an end warning that people are stronger than the police.
At a media briefing Thursday March 27, 2014, Hichilema condemned the use of live ammunition on citizens. The UNPD leader says even though the Zambia Police have now become tools of President Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front, PF, regime their brutality must not be allowed to continue.
He cited an incident in Mazabuka where a street vendor is said to have died after being beaten by a police officer resulting in riots in the sugar producing town.
Hichilema, who spoke without written text, also talked about the high cost of living, shortage of ARVs, and the Judge Chikopa saga among other issues.
BELOW IS SOME OF WHAT HE SAID
A lot of Zambians are deprived yet we have a rich country. Someone is not providing leadership to allow others to lead a decent life. It’s embarrassing, extremely embarrassing and that’s what we would like to correct going forward.
Let me just remind ourselves and remind the PF government that the cost of living is too high. They must address the cost of living. Mealie-meal is costing around K70 and more. We have talked about this issue several times. Mr. Sata please, learn to have priorities. Attend to the cost of living. Most of our people go to bed without enough food. We are slowing killing our people but we say there’s a government in office. Which government? What government?
In a land so fertile! I’m a farmer and I know what I’m talking about. The land is so fertile, so much water. Thirty five percent of fresh water, we are not talking about sea water which is salty and you can’t use it to produce crops. I’m talking of fresh water. Look at the Luapula River Basin. What are we producing there? Nothing! Look at the Zambezi River Basin, the whole stretch from Yambezhi in Mwinilunga, the Zambezi River.
What are we producing there? Not even one percent of it s capacity. Look at the Kafue River. Why should our people be hungry? That’s the question we must ask ourselves.
There’s no leadership. I have come to conclude there’s no leadership in Mr. Sata. It’s not there, maybe negative leadership. Mr. Sata Sir, work on lowering the cost of mealie-meal, work on lowering the price of cement. Work on lowering the cost of mini buses. It’s too high, transport.
People are walking to the hospital to go and visit patients all the way from Kanyama to UTH, Chazanga, Bauleni, I see them pass my house. Ask where they are going they respond, “We are going to the hospital to visit some patients.”
When I ask them why they can’t get on a mini-bus they respond, “We don’t have money and the mini-bus is expensive.” Meanwhile you told people that they will have more money in their pockets. Lies, lies, lies. It’s a painful realisation.
When Dr. Banda talks about Hakainde I feel so guilty that how can that be right. In the same territory where the potential is limitless people are deprived. Please work on jobs. Not cleaning, sweeping street corners and your definition … I don’t know where this man has found the definition of a job. If you cleaned as a job before and you were paid every month for two years, you were lucky Mr. Sata.
But that piece work in that corner of the road, planting grass outside State House, on Addis Ababa drive and the road behind State House, this planting grass, our women there, that’s not a job, that’s piece work for a week. You are counting that as 600,000 jobs? Aikona man!
People in a rich country are suffering. That’s my message please understand that, because of poor quality of leadership or absence of leadership. Attend to the priorities. The ARV’s have run out again in our hospitals. But you are appointing tribunals and commissions. Where are your priorities? Where is your sympathy? Where is your emotional attachment to the people of Zambia? Where is it? I am asking. When you get in there, it’s a house where you just sleep. Every afternoon you are asleep. No, that’s a work station.
This is serious. I know for that journalist you are saying you have heard this issue. People go to bed without food. It’s not a joke even journalists here, the money you receive, the income you receive is so low that you can not meet your basic needs. That is true. The issue is that we should do something about it. We should all agree that PF in government is a failed project, they have failed.
He was crying to get into government. He started a long time ago. I was only two years, just imagine. I was two years old, this man was crying to be president of Zambia. And now you are given the chance to lead you forget the people.
I have not raised this issue before but I want to raise it. People of Zambia must know Mr. Sata is not working the full hours that we employed him to work. He is working only a few hours there. What does he really do when people are going hungry? This is not correct.
We did not put someone in that rented house ……. that house belongs to the people of Zambia but he only sits there teasing chiefs all the time while people are going hungry. This is serious Zambians.
You all remember that Judge Chikopa tribunal. What is happening to that tribunal? You are quiet. You are swearing more tribunals, more commissions. Mr. President, Mr. President is everything okay? What is going on with the Chikopa tribunal? Where is judge Chikopa? I have found out that there is a relationship between Mr. Sata through his marriage and Judge Chikopa.
I have found out, am serious am not joking. So you can’t bring relationship and cost the tax payers a lot of money! Sometimes we heard he was in a hotel, the other time a house was being rented for him in Mulungushi village. Airfares are being paid for him. He is malingering here. Go back to Malawi. There are cases go and sort out the cases in courts in Malawi. But our focus is on the one who brought you here.
Mr. Sata let Chikopa go back he is of no use here. That money we can save it. That money we are wasting we can save it and buy ARV’s for our family members. Chikopa tribunal is not a priority.
We want a situation where only necessary tribunals are set up and when a tribunal is set up if you are a minister you have to resign because you may influence the process of the tribunal. That’s what we are seeing now. So the tribunal, it’s just a fasad because people are manipulating evidence even threatening people and in the end are cleared. Cleared for what?
So the rule of natural justice should be that if you are involved in an investigation, you are being investigated, step aside. If you are a competent minister you will be re-appointed.
You only fear if you are not competent. The President said PF MPs are useless but the cabinet is drawn from MPs so it means the cabinet is useless.
Police brutality! Mr. Sata please Mr. President police brutality is getting too much. These are now tools of PF and Mr. Sata. They have lost their professionalism. There’s too much police brutality. We need this to be brought to an end forthwith. In Mazabuka yesterday, the police killed a vendor there.
The Mazabuka police have found killing as normal. No, no those are lives. We should not allow these things to continue. We can not continue doing things like that when those who are supposed to protect us are killing us. It’s not correct.
You are killing people, innocent souls. I want to say and send this message, police brutality must come to an end forthwith. People are stronger than the police. That’s the rule everywhere.
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