By CHILA NAMAIKO –
THE Government has said is deception by the United Party for National Development (UPND) to claim that the declaration of a state of threatened emergency by President Lungu was targeted at the opposition.
Chief Government Spokesperson, Kampamba Mulenga said yesterday the UPND could not point to a single opposition politician or innocent citizen who had been inconvenienced in any way while going about their business as a result of last month’s invocation of Article 31 of the Constitution to give law enforcement agencies enhanced powers to carry out their duties.
Responding to UPND Secretary General Stephen Katuka’s claims that the proclamation of the Threatened State of Emergency was targeted at opposition politicians, with a raft of by-elections set for next month, Ms Mulenga said the statement was designed to mislead the public.

MULENGA

“It’s shocking that UPND wants to mislead Zambians about Article 31. As far as Government is concerned, there is nobody who has complained about being detained unlawfully or stopped from going about their business during this period of Threatened State of Emergency. Everyone is going about their lives freely,” the minister said.
Mr Katuta said on Tuesday that the UPND feared that the rights of its members to campaign freely during the upcoming by-elections at local government level in a number of districts would be stifled by the invocation of Article 31 of the Constitution.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia is set to conduct by-elections for the position of council chairman for Itezhi-Tezhi, Kanchibiya, Luvushimanda and Lunte districts on September 14, alongside those for councillors in Chililalila, Chitwi, Luansobe, Luntomfwe, Libonda, Mpidi, Kakonga, Chimanja and Mabinga wards.
Ms Mulenga, who is Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, reiterated government’s position on Article 31, saying the decision was taken in the best interest of the nation to help law enforcement agencies del with a pattern of suspected acts of sabotage such like the spate of fires that had been recorded across the country.
She said the fact that no part of the country had even reported even one incidence of unlawful arrest or restriction of people’s movements by police since the state of threatened emergency was declared was proof that it was for the good of the nation.
Ms Mulenga said the UPND should not feel intimidated by the presence of police officers even during the campaign period because the officers, who were also aware of the elections, would be there to provide adequate security to all citizens.
She said the opposition party should have been in the forefront to commend President Edgar Lungu for his efforts to protect people’s property and speed up investigations into a recent series of fires suspected to be acts of sabotage.