Do not stifle dissenting views; FODEP’s George Chimembe prods President Edgar Chagwa Lungu

By Luswepo Mutepuka Kwilanzi News Zambia

FOUNDATION for Democratic Process (FODEP) Executive Director George Chimembe called on President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to desist from stopping citizens with a different point of view from expressing themselves.

A worried Mr. Chimembe has told Kwilanzi News Zambia in an interview in Lusaka that President Lungu should have allowed a peaceful protest to State House as opposed blocking those with divergent views from holding a clearly legitimate demonstration.

Zambia’s Gender Minister Professor Nkandu at a FODEP-IDEA Political Party Strategy Indaba with Executive Director Chipenzi McDonald in Lusaka Wed 4th Nov 2015

Mr. Chimembe is saddened that in a democratic country, people with a different political and socio-economic view point are increasingly denied to an opportunity to protest despite meeting all the requirements outlined in the Public Order Act (POA).

Chimembe says there is no need for government to bar stakeholders providing checks and balances as such a move is at variance with tenets ascribed in a supposedly Democratic State.