One of Zambian opposition parties, the New Heritage Party (NHP), has accused the government of dictatorship after the police insisted on a written list of speakers for the party’s upcomng rally in Lusaka’s Mandevu area.
NHP’s President, Chishala Kateka, who made the allegations in a statement on Tuesday, said the National Police also requested a registration certificate from the party before considering their request for approval to hold the rally, an action she said was dictatorial.
The NHP leader said the party had, in a letter to the police, it had expressed its intention to hold a mass rally in Mandevu on June 1, and also submitted their registration certificate to the police.
Kateka however, described the police response to the party’s request as a colonial-era policing of rallies before Zambia’s independence.
“Raphael Musamba’s police command has now demanded the New Heritage Party to provide them with an official list of speakers for the Mandevu rally on June 1, 2024,” Kateka stated in the statement.
Kateka said the NHP would indeed provide the list of its speakers at the rally but expressed concerns that the intention behind these demands might be to prevent any United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) presidents from speaking at the Mandevu rally.
“We are aware that President Hakainde Hichilema and his police are apprehensive about UKA and are striving to divide the alliance using State institutions and operatives, including registering a fake UKA,” she further alleged.
Kateka also argued that the law does not require a political party to produce both a registration certificate and a written list of speakers to hold a mass rally.
“This is simply dictatorship on display. Unfortunately, President Hichilema and his lieutenants within the police force are willing to breach the law of the land to serve their agenda,” she stated.
Kateka also expressed her concerns that the police’s actions appeared to be an attempt to dictate the proceedings of political party associations.
“Today, it’s the New Heritage Party, UKA alliance, and the Church facing persecution. Tomorrow, it could be NGOs and Civil Society Organizations,” she warned.