OF TREASON AND NATIONAL SECURITY

IT is shocking, but perfectly understandable that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nelly Mutti could elevate the political statement by former President Edgar Lungu on the competence of the present regime to remain in office as a matter of national security deserving a statement from the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security.

It is all so predictable.

It all falls in the same genre as the Miles Sampa debacle in which the Registrar of Societies, Ms Thandiwe Mhende was fired to facilitate the illegal takeover of the Patriotic Front (PF) following the state sponsored retreat that was turned into an elective conference that is now being exposed as a total fraud.

There is nothing that former President Edgar Lungu said, that has not been said by current President Hakainde Hichilema before. We have President Hichilema, then in opposition demanding early elections and asking President Lungu to resign because he had failed.

Mr. Hichilema even narrates how President Kaunda called for election on account of public pressure. He was not arrested for treason or state security concerns.

What has changed now that the entire state machinery should go in overdrive to invoke state security?

The power of recall for elected political officials lies in the hands of the electorate and not the Police or security system. Their role is to ensure that the rule of law functions effectively to enable all actors play their various roles, without let or hindrance.

It was a definite affront to democracy for the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Graphael Musamba to second guess a political statement by former President Lungu, his senior in status, regarding the state of performance of the current regime.

It does not make sense that Mr. Musamba, whose officers pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed the general public for no discernible cause could react with righteous indignation to a statement by the former President condemning the conduct and assigning to the President, the Commander in Chief.

It is called conflict of interest.

Mr. Lungu had every right to pronounce himself on the competence or otherwise of the current regime to remain in office. That is called freedom of expression.

While in opposition, President Hichilema often called for early elections to remove what he considered to be an incompetent PF Government. That was within his rights. In fact, at one stage, Mr. Hichilema stated; “A government that does not respect the rule of law is very dangerous to its citizens, and it is clear from recent conduct that officials of the PF government regard themselves as above the law.”

He was not arrested for this statement because it was within his mandate as an opposition leader and citizen of the country.

In a well-functioning democracy, indeed in most countries, the power of recall has been enshrined in their constitutions. This is the power allowing citizens to hold their representatives accountable between regular elections, or indeed the ability of the voters to remove an elected official from office before the end of their term.

This was the case when President Thabo Mbeki in South Africa was recalled by his party, the African National Congress to give way to Jacob Zuma as a result of discontent within the party.

The role of the Police is certainly not to allow an illegality as the one that took place at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre where one Miles Sampa was offered Police succor, sanctuary and protection to convert a retreat into an elective conference contrary to the rules, constitution and practice of the party that he was claiming to represent.

If anything, the Mulungushi debacle constituted a “Treason” against lawful authority, an act which has no place in a democracy where decisions are by the majority and not by the machinations of a single disgruntled person who is supported by the regime in power.

If anything, treason is the act of a deliberate and conscious decision to betray one’s allegiance to their country or indeed to their party by associating with the adversary and in this case UPND.

It will be recalled that while in opposition, a number of UPND officials were either suspended or indeed disciplined

functions presided over by then President