By Scoop Reporter
INSINUATIONS by the Patriotic Front (PF) that youths are being made to rise against the Government are childish and an insult to the intelligence of the Zambian youths, the United Party for National Development (UPND) has said.
UPND Muchinga Province Chairperson Paul Sichamba says it is not in dispute that the PF has failed to govern this country and that they have failed every Zambians from the youths, the women and all other groupings that comprise the country’s population.
“But rather than own up and take responsibility, the PF are choosing to bury their heads in the sand. Zambian youth exhibit social good in small acts they perform every day and believe in activism.
“The Zambian youths have been the worst adversely affected segment of our society by the PF’s mismanagement of our economy and their don’t kubeba slogan and yet they constitute the largest voting bloc in the country,” Mr. Sichamba.
He has reminded the PF that the youths care about social issues such as civil rights or tribal discrimination, and healthcare and that education and employment are the issues youths in this country consistently care the most about.
He says because of their high level of diversity, the youths, who have been cheated about the creation of 1 million jobs by President Edgar Lungu, see themselves in the shoes of others who do not look like them, speak the same language, have the same education, or come from the same background.
“Because they bear the blunt of the failure of the PF administration, Zambian youths value collective action and networks. No one needs to incite them to rise against this failed government because they are passionate about the issue of regime change.
“Education has become a priority for the youth throughout the PF-decade in office, not just college and university affordability, but the quality of primary education too. The arrogance and destruction of the economy by the PF in the last couple of years have galvanised the youths to find their collective voice and used it to address other social ills,” he said.
He says the PF’s tyrannical, oppressive and repressive regime has done everything within their powers to instill fear in the citizenry so that their misrule and their misdeeds are not brought to the fore.
He however says there is a limit to how much you can keep the people repressed. He says UPNMD leader Hakainde Hichilema was arrested on lame charges that could not stand in court and that almost every opposition leader except their surrogates have been arrested.
“This is a scheme they have designed to silence criticism. Youths that have dared to speak out have been bashed. Pilato and Laura Miti were arrested for simply exercising their invaluable right of expression. The youths are well within their rights to pronounce themselves on matters that affect them – matters of governance.
“The PF has no right to silence these youths. President Lungu’s self-appointed defender Bowman Lusambo’s attempts to silence youths speaking against the PF’s disastrous management of the country’s affairs are laughable,” he said.
