We stand with the poor marketeers who have become the victims of the fire which destroyed not only their property, but also the Lusaka City Market.
UPP shall create a fund from which support will be rendered to the victims. We shall also be making arrangements to get a list of the victims so that they can benefit from our food aid programme under the #United.#EndPovertyNow! scheme. All the members and supporters of UPP are urged to contribute through the Office of Treasurer General.
Meanwhile, UPP has taken time to carefully review the statements coming from the warring PF and UPND parties. Clearly, both parties have shown lack of respect and love for humanity. Each side of the divide is accusing the other as the plotter of this suspected act of sabotage. In all this, it’s the poor people of Zambia who are paying the price.
In our humble opinion, as is the case everywhere in the world, the protocol for handling the matter should have been as follows:
1. Preliminary Examination of the Scene: The Lusaka City Council Fire Department should have been the first to arrive at the scene to not only put out the fire, but also collect evidence on what caused the fire. Causes can include electrical fault, accidental dropping of a cigarette butt by a smoker, deliberate act of arson, etc.
At this preliminary stage, the President of Zambia must be the first to urge all investigate wings to do a thorough job.
Further, as the principal client of the intelligence community, the President is also expected to call for calm in the nation and rule out terrorism depending on the preliminary security report.
If terrorism is involved or threat levels are high, the President of Zambia should ask security wings to deploy officers in all the markets and strategic public infrastructures just in case internal or external enemies of Zambia have intentions to strike again.
It’s absolutely senseless, at this stage, to issue threats of dictatorship (of which the country has been under since independence) or declaration of a state of emergency.
On the other hand, it’s foolish on the part of the UPND to start accusing the PF at this stage. This is immaturity and an exposition of lack of direction. Why is the UPND apprehensive? Chance must be given to the agencies of the state to do their work. If indeed the PF is involved let their own actions implicate them.
2. Collection of Witness Statements
The next stage is collection of statements from witnesses at the scene of fire.
The Fire Department and the Zambia Police are the frontline investigators who must interview witnesses at the scene.
The intelligence community is equally expected to do its work to determine whether or not saboteurs or terrorists are involved. UPP has consistently urged the PF regime to adequately finance the intelligence community. Intelligence officers are the most forgotten about in Zambia. With a well funded and motivated intelligence community, acts of arson can be exposed before they even occur.
3. Full Scale Examination of the Scene
Naturally, after the preliminary investigative work is completed, the President and Ministers will have a fair understanding on the causes of the fire. If it is not accidental, they will have an idea on who did it or why it was done.
It is expected that investigators will at this stage extend interviews to suspects if it is an act of arson or generally terrorism.
Equipped with a full report, with evidence, the President of Zambia can decide to withdraw the increased security officers who were supposedly deployed to secure public places or maintain them for an extended period depending on the full report before him.
On the basis of the official details that are made public, all opposition leaders and others can comment and advise.
In the absence of basic details, we can only focus our attention on helping the victims and calling on the state to cushion the impact through a special fund.
4. Further Investigations and Follow Ups
Immediately after the report, appropriate agencies can now do further investigations as well as prosecute the case.
Fellow citizens, we are seriously worried and concerned with the way the PF regime is running this country. Zambia is bigger than the President and his ministers and we expect dignity and professionalism in the handling of matters of public interest.
We are fully aware that the PF regime is desperate and there are various schemes aimed at driving the country into lawlessness so that all acts of plunder of national resources can go on unpunished. The level of plunder is so high that the state is bankrupt.
Our prayer is that the Government shall concentrate on uniting the country and bringing healing in the land.
The Kwacha has lost its purchasing power at a fast rate.
Public service workers, men and women in uniform, and intelligence officers have not had any upward adjustment of salaries and yet electricity tariffs have gone up and the prices of essential commodities continue to rise.
Worse still, there are millions of young people, men and women who are jobless and the economy is in recession. All these are effects of corruption under a visionless leadership which only cares about its pockets and fruitless trips abroad.
The national debate should not be about dictatorship and the declaration of the state of emergency. This is laziness of the worst kind on the part of the PF and their fellow militia group, the UPND. The focus of both sides is simply on state power for personal pockets. This is how recycling the same people on both sides of the divide has ravaged Zambia. Government is not for eaters of bread, but for sowers of seeds.
In conclusion, we seriously urge advisors to President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to stop misleading him into ever imagining that dictatorship is the solution to Zambia’s security and economic problems. Take a leaf from the dictatorships of the Middle East where acts of terrorism are rampant.
Authoritarians will only serve the interests of personal pockets as is the case now. Citizens rights and freedoms are being abused with the detention of Hakainde Hichilema, on a treason that never took place in Zambia, as a typical example of how state power is being abused.
God bless our nation!
Saviour Chishimba
UPP PRESIDENT
#UPP: #Dignity & #Justice for #All!
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Chishimba: Threats Of Dictatorship & Declaration Of State Of Emergency Are Scandalous, Nauseous & Childish
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