Scott:Opposition Parties Are Cry-Babies That Want To Attract The Attention Of People

Vice-President Guy Scott says opposition political parties are just cry babies that want to attract the attention of people that do not know Zambia very well.
And Vice-President Scott said the Public Order Act was cardinal to maintaining law and order.
Commenting on remarks by acting US Ambassador to Zambia David Young, who last Wednesday said it was regrettable that police and cadres harassed opposition political parties, civil society groups, and journalists who were merely exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly, Vice-President Scott said nobody was being stopped from holding political meetings.
“First of all, you can see it most plainly and most obviously that in any by-election that goes on, there are numerous meetings, there are no restrictions. I just got a phone call this morning Friday that HH Hakainde Hichilema was holding public meetings without even a letter to the police. I mean, they opposition kick up a tremendous row when there is some clash or some problem with a meeting but they don’t say, honestly, for the 100 permits that we have applied for, we got 90 or something. They complain about the 10 and I think the police are learning how to work with it,” Vice-President Scott said. “So I think, they opposition are cry babies, because they think they get a good audience from people who don’t know Zambia so well. I mean, we are disciplining our own people.”
Vice-President Scott said the opposition should be more honest about the extent to which their freedoms of assembly were being infringed upon.
“They are free to organise their parties in constituencies, they have been holding meetings, from one sort and another in all these constituencies where we are expecting by-elections shortly, they have been organising there,” he said.
And Vice-President Scott said no country operated without the due regard to the law.
“Its difficulty. You have to have something like the Public Order Act otherwise people can run hell loose like they want and there is no country that allows such. So I think people should be more honest about the extent to which their freedoms of assembly are infringed upon,” said Vice-President Scott.
On Wednesday, during the US national day, Young expressed concern at the pattern of violence among political cadres and harassment of those who disagreed with government policies.
Young, who is US charge de affaires in Zambia, said in a democracy, disagreements were settled with words, not pangas.
Meanwhile Vice-President Scott said there was nothing biased about UPND president Hakainde Hichilema being summoned by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly has summoned Hichilema to appear before a select committee for questioning over his instructions to his members of parliament to disrupt parliamentary proceedings.
All People’s Congress party (APC) leader Nason Msoni has also been summoned to appear before a select committee on Monday (today) to state his position over a statement he made in one of the newspapers, asking the Speaker to resign for failing to protect the opposition members of parliament in the House.
The National Assembly has also summoned The Post to appear before a select committee this Friday. This is in connection with a point of order raised by Chembe member of parliament Mwansa Mbulakulima over an editorial which ran on 7th March, 2014 entitled ‘Punish Unruly MPs’.
Vice-President Scott, who is leader of government business in Parliament, said the House had rules which needed to be followed.
“I was also expelled at some point when we were in the opposition and was not even allowed to enter the House. Parliament has long tradition of discipline. I was lucky, I could have been charged with a criminal offence. Some people are even imprisoned. So there is nothing biased about HH’s summoning. It is not because it is HH. I don’t think it is anything aimed at him but just the issue of order in Parliament,” Vice-President Scott said.
On Tuesday March 14, 2014, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Harry Kalaba, raised a point of order against Hichilema, who was quoted in a news bulletin encouraging the members of parliament, especially those belonging to his party, to protest and bring disruptions to the business of the House.
“Is the leader of an opposition political party, who has never even been a councillor, in order to encourage honourable members to come and disrupt the proceedings of this honourable House?” Kalaba had asked.
According to a letter from the office of the clerk of the National Assembly, the UPND leader was expected to appear before a select committee on Wednesday at 10:30 hours.
“Sir, the matter is now before a select committee of the National Assembly for consideration. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to inform you that you will be required to appear before the committee on Friday, 13th June 2014 at 10:20 hours in committee room No. 1, Parliament Buildings, for the purpose of stating your position on the matter,” the letter stated.

Posted by Kunda on June 9, 2014. Filed under POLITICS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.