By JAMES KUNDA –

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has challenged opposition political party leaders in the country to prove their will of upholding peace by abiding to the provisions of the Public Order Act (POA).
Mr Lungu said as opposed to making public pronouncements, the opposition politicians should prove that they are willing to uphold peace by abiding to the provisions of the POA.
The Head of State was speaking at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka yesterday upon arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he attended the 26th Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly.
He was reacting to the meeting of the country’s opposition leaders at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre,in Lusaka on Saturday where matters of peace in the forthcoming tripartite elections were on the agenda.
“Me, I am propounding and promoting peace; they (opposition) are doing the contrary. Who went and set Livingstone, Mongu and Choma on flames? It was our friend HH (Hakainde Hichilema) when he went there. When I was there, there was peace, so what are they (opposition) talking about?” wondered President Lungu.
He said the POA remained in place as the only law, which could protect the citizenry by preventing anarchy during political gatherings.
“So for me, I am saying unless they give us something better, tell all those guys (opposition) that forget it! Unless they are offering us a better alternative, there is a law in place and we must respect it. They should respect the law, because I do not want to use the law and say I beat them, I want to use the ballot to beat them,” the President said.