ALLOW PF TO ‘CRY’, SAYS SINKAMBA
OPPOSITION Green Party president, Peter Sinkamba has urged the government to allow the former ruling Patriotic Front (PF) to express themselves regardless of its past actions.
Mr. Sinkamba made the observation during an interview yesterday. He said that the government must not silence any citizen or group that wants to air their views on any matter on account of their past actions. He was commenting on some sentiments aired by some electronic media houses suggesting that the PF had no right to complain on matters of democracy because of their bad record when he government. This was after a spirited campaign by the PF to stage a demonstration during the democracy summit and the visit of the United States of America (USA) Vice President, Kamara Harris last week.
The opposition political party leader said that the government must embrace every citizen and organisation because they were critical stakeholders in national affairs. He said that one’s past record cannot deprive them of the freedom of expression. He insisted that no matter how the PF past record was perceived, it does not make them irrelevant in the democratic space of the nation.
Mr. Sinkamba said that the Patriotic Front (PF) was not the only party that had aired its views on matters such as the LGTQ. He therefore wondered why they should be singled out and yet this was voiced out by several bodies including the Catholic and United Church of Zambia among others.
The Green party president however thanked the government for listening to the various calls for it to make its position clear. He said that the stance taken by the government to denounce the LGBTQ movement as unconstitutional was monumental and would go a long way in defining the discourse.
“The position by government that it will not tolerate the LGTQ movement has elated us as a party. We commend President Hakainde Hichilema for clearly stating that the movement will have no place in Zambia during his tenure in office,” he said.