Kampyongo blocks UPPZ Media Coverage…As Charles Chanda Cries Foul
In their continued clampdown down on political rivals, Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo has ordered United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ) leader Charles Chanda to stop giving media interviews, including appearing on Radio and TV until his party is cleared by the Registrar of Society.
Chanda was due to appear on Pan African Radio Newfeed back programme but a call from the Home Affairs Ministry canceled his plan.
The UPPZ leader complained that the move is aimed at caging him from selling himself to the general public ahead of the 2021 elections.
He said his party is duly registered under the Registrar of Society and was given a certificate of approval by the Electoral Commission of Zambia(ECZ).
Chanda added that the Zambia Police Service and, the Lusaka City Council cleared UPPZ, hence wondered why Kampyongo has given him such a strange directive.
He explained that the registration process of his party started last year in December and he is satisfied with its conclusions.
” I was scheduled to appear on Pan African Radio evening program but I am unable to do so because Hon Kampyongo has ordered me not to give TV and Radio Interviews. Last Friday officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs called me to tell me that i needed clearance from the Registrar of Society.
Asked who could be behind his predicament, Chanda said it is Kampyongo because the ruling party is feeling his weight.
“You know, the first thing they asked me when they called me was that ‘you again you appeared on the Radio Program?Ain’t you supposed to appear after the Registrar of Society clears you?” Chanda said.
He described the situation as an infringement to citizens’ rights to association as enshrined in the Constitution of the land.
“How can they ask us to produce reference forms of our supporter from every province. The motive behind that is merely to know our support base across the country,” he said, ” The truth of the matter is that ECZ, Zambia Police Service and the Lusaka City Council cleared us. We are clean to participate in our politics,” Chanda said.