. Chama

By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Patriotic Front (PF) has insisted that President-elect Edgar Lungu will not meet United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema to discuss violence before Mr Hichilema rectifies the problem in Namwala District.
Suspected UPND members in Namwala have displaced citizens perceived to be supporters of the ruling party.
PF secretary general Davies Chama said that calls by Senior Chief Mukuni and other royal highnesses for the two party leaders to meet would not be in the best interest of the victims unless Mr Hichilema addressed the politically-motivated violence in Namwala.
Mr Chama said that chiefs in Southern Province should speak to Mr Hichilema as their son to insist that he deals with his members who were attacking people perceived to be PF supporters.
Mr Chama was speaking in an interview yesterday in reaction to calls by chiefs from Southern Province for Mr Lungu to meet Mr Hichilema to table the issue of violence in Namwala and other parts of the province.
“First of all, Chief Mukuni should sit down with Mr Hichilema and talk about what he should do about the situation.
“There is need to sort out the problem first, that is when he and other royal highnesses should then call for a meeting to ensure that a similar incident does not happen in the future,” Mr Chama said.
He said the citizens had already been displaced and for the situation to return to normal, it only required Mr Hichilema to talk to his members.
Mr Chama said it was also important for the chiefs to visit the affected citizens and get details from them firsthand.
He said chiefs were best-placed to deal with such issues because they were the custodians of their land and were capable of healing wounds of the affected people.
Mr Chama said it was important for the authorities to insist that the people whose houses were destroyed return to their homes with the help of the traditional rulers because displacing them could yield tribalism.
“If they leave their homes, when they go to the provinces where they hail from, their relatives will take it that the victims were kicked out because they were not from Southern Province and that will germinate into something else,” he said.
Mr Chama also urged PF members not to speak out of emotions.
He said members should adhere to the rules of the party and not to engage in violence.
“The President has been categorical about violence. We condemn it and we do not tolerate it as a party,” Mr Chama said.