By Scoop Reporter
CHOMA-BASED journalist, Mastone Monze, says police are to blame for the fanfare that characterised Monze last week for triggering the uproar from the residents because of the way they conducted themselves prior to President Edgar Lungu’s visit to the area.
FULL WRITE-UP
MONZE FRACAS WAS AN EYE OPENER TO SELECTIVE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN LAWS.
Are you sure it’s only UPND posters and billboards that are still illegally flying after the 2016 general election? Why didn’t it happen in Livingstone or Mazabuka but it only happened in Monze district?
I have read a number of statements questioning the behaviour of the Monze residents who chanted UPND slogans against the President motorcade on Saturday. What is surprising is the lack of depth to understand why that fracas occurred only in Monze but President Lungu visited three districts who are UPND strongholds.
For me, I am not surprised because I was in the area two days before the Presidential visit. If you were in Monze on Thursday and Friday night, you will agree with me that there was less freedom of movement after sunset due to heavy police presence ahead of the Presidential visit.
The police rounded the area as if there were criminals they were looking for in residential areas, residents were surprised with this kind of guarding. Some citizens did not know that the police were doing that because the Head of State was coming the following day.
What they speculated was that the police are looking for some criminals who raped and killed a woman in Monze two weeks ago. The police and residents’ fight was triggered by the removal of the Chitenge material, posters and billboards portraying the opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.
The residents asked the police why posters should be removed in Monze when in other PF strongholds billboards, Chitenge, and posters are still there.
Also, where were the police since 2016 only to come and remove posters four years after the elections? Answers to these questions were not given and that’s why now you heard some compounds burning tyres and calling for fair application of the law.
It’s at this point UPND leadership and Bishop Hamungole managed to engage the police not to escalate the situation, later in the day we saw the new Chitenge for the UPND material flying in trees and stands especially the route leading where the President was visiting the following.
At this hour the Police stopped retaliating to residents uproar to allow the situation normalize. And the police should be commended for accepting the defeat at this hour because the fracas should have recorded a death or many. Out of excitement, the residents were ready for anything.
ANALYSIS
The Zambia Police are to blame for triggering the uproar from the residents because of the way they conducted themselves prior to the Presidential visit.
We all know that it’s not only UPND posters that are illegally flying on the streets of this country. It is an undeniable fact that the PF posters and Chitenge are flying in many parts of Lusaka and other strongholds. Why can’t the removal of these campaign posters be done at once across the country?
The police should not tell us that they are not aware of the fact posters for both UPND and PF are all over the streets these two political parties command. The residents of Monze were reminding the police to fairly apply this law of removing campaign posters after the general election.
We are not saying ,the Monze residents were right to protest against the removal if the UPND posters but what we are emphasizing here is that the protest reminded our Police that removing of posters does not only apply to opposition but every political party in the country.
Thank you
God Bless mother Zambia
