. Sinkamba

By CHUSA SICHONE –
GREEN Party president Peter Sinkamba says it is wrong to brand President Edgar Lungu as a dictator because he is not one.
Mr Sinkamba said in a democratic dispensation people were expected to agree or disagree on certain issues but that disagreements with the President should not be mistaken for dictatorship.
Mr Sinkamba said on the 5 FM Radio’s Burning Issue programme in Lusaka on Thursday that those labelling President Lungu as a dictator probably lacked knowledge of what dictatorship involved.
“This issue of the President being a dictator, I do not believe he is a dictator. Of course, there are certain issues that I may not agree with him but obviously that cannot be classified as dictatorship,” he said.
Mr Sinkamba said President Lungu’s leadership could not be likened to dictatorship because he had experienced worse things during the one-party State and that the one-party State experience could not be compared to what was obtaining currently.
He said he might have contrary views to those of the President but he did not label him as a dictator because in a democracy people were expected to “agree to disagree” on a number of issues.
Mr Sinkamba, however, said if people felt that the Head of State had not done the right thing, they were free to take action in a lawful manner.
Mr Sinkamba said that what transpired in Zimbabwe where the army took over power until the then president Robert Mugabe stepped down was not worth emulating by their Zambian counterparts as it was important to adhere to the Constitution and democratic processes.