NCP’s Peter Chanda opposes Hakainde Hichilema’s dialogue talk
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By Francis Maingaila and Derrick Sinjela
New Congress Party (NCP) leader Pastor Peter Chanda is opposing a call by United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema urging citizens to back a church led dialogue to resolve teething political and electoral challenges confronting Zambia.
During a Sunday 31st January 2021 Morning Media Briefing, Pastor Chanda equally opposed effort to review the Public Order Act (POA) stressing that it is politically wrong to blame success governments for the controversial piece of legislation.
Discussing a call for dialogue as proposed in a letter Hichilema wrote to three Church Mother bodies; the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), Pastor Chanda told journalists that the terms of reference which UPND alluded to are out-dated, stressing that the entrepreneur turned politician had shunned previous sittings.
National Congress Party President Pastor Peter Chanda Lusaka Zambia Sunday 31st January 2021 Picture by Derrick Sinjela
A fiery Pastor Chanda branded the call for dialogue by Hichilema as misplaced and on account of the UPND leader failing to swallow his pride and accept that President Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a duly elected Republican President.
“The Church has no mandate to amend the Public Order Act and all citizens agree that such changes can only be done when the Republican Constitution is amended. The Public Order Act was addressed during the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) whose outcome was sabotaged by UPND,” Pastor Chanda explained.
The New Congress Party leader observed that the amendment of the of Constitution was not conclusively done until 2016 as the UPND motive was to support it to jeopardize the term of office which President Lungu had not yet completed.
“The Church must keep its lane and stay away from the matter of politics as Mr. Hakainde Hichilema has denied the country an opportunity to amend the constitution, though sabotaging the constitutional making process. After the failed Constitutional Bill Number 10 of 2019, no one must be seen and heard crying foul as most of these protestors want to change the law upon which the police can act up on. I wonder how the Zambia Police Service will work once the Public Order Act is tampered with and weakened at this point in time,” protested Pastor Chanda.
Distancing the United National Independence Party (UNIP), Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the Patriotic Front from responsibility with regard to biased policing, Pastor Chanda argued that the Public Order Act was imposed on UNIP and former first Republican President, Dr. Kenneth David Buchizya Kaunda.
“The police cannot act on an issue which is not provided for in the Republican Constitution. It is wrong to blame UNIP and KK, former Second Republican President, the late Dr. Frederick Titus Jacob Chiluba, former Third Republican President, the late Dr. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, former Fourth Republican President, Mr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda, former Fifth Republican President, the late Michael Charles Chilufya Sata and the incumbent, Sixth Republican President, Edgar Chagwa Lungu on account of the British colonial masters imposing the Public Order Act on the Zambian people on Saturday 24th October 1964, when the Union Jack was lowered and the Zambian Flag hoisted at Lusaka’s Independence Stadium.
Pastor Chanda insisted that the Public Order Act was forced by the British colonial masters as a policing instrument designed to suppress the opposition and failure of Constitutional Bill Number 10 of 2019, was a lost opportunity.
National Congress Party President Pastor Peter Chanda Lusaka Zambia Sunday 31st January 2021 Picture by Derrick Sinjela
