EVERY NEW ARREST AND DETENTION IS ACCELERATING HICHILEMA’S EXIT- M’membe
It is significant for Mr Hakainde Hichilema and his regime to understand that the political power they hold today is not absolute. It’s subject to certain limitations and boundaries.
Mr Hichilema and his league need to be reminded that this political power they’re relishing and cruelly applying on political competitors and critical voices is provisional. It is short-term. And it is temporary or transitory, and only for a moment. This political power they’re so excited with is not everlasting. It can easily find its way back to the rightful owners, the people, once they resolve to do so.
The UPND regime must realise that political power is very limited, particularly when it comes to its application. Similarly, there is a need for this regime to be made aware that whatever they plot and do insofar as governance is concerned, the consent or agreement of the governed, the people, must be dominant. Without which, they can be rest assured that their toil will amount to nothing.
Mr Hichilema and his league should not misguide themselves into thinking that holding political power means being right all the time or that having power includes intimidating, threatening, detaining, arresting, and excessive application of physical force by the police on political competitors. Arbitrary arrests, detentions, and intimidation of political opponents have never guaranteed the political stability and safety of any society. That is why regimes that have adopted these inhumane tactics to sustain their grip on power have ended up badly.
It is ill-advised for Mr Hichilema to believe that he can use the police or law enforcement agencies to stay in power. It’s a delusion, and it will not work. It has failed to work before in this country, and it will fail again because the police have never been an answer in resolving society’s complex political problems at any time in history.
Any attempts by this regime to establish an all-powerful and mighty presidency and government through the abuse or misuse of the police and other law enforcement agencies is nothing but reckless bravado. It will soon backfire very badly! And any one more person they put behind bars every single day helps to accelerate their exit from office.
Let the police stick to its mandate and operate within the confines of the law as per Constitution, and not as an extension of the UPND or Mr Hichilema’s makeshift security squad at his cattle ranches.
We call upon Mr Hichilema and his league to comprehend the limitations of political power and its cyclical process before it is too late. And let them remember that arrogance, brutality, and excessive usage of political power always attract severe consequences from the people.
Political power is a very dangerous thing, which must be handled judiciously and with restraint.
And as we have repeatedly advised, the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self limitation and modesty.
Fred M’membe President of the Socialist Party