ARMY COMMANDER ON FIRM GROUND AND RESPECT FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY We, in the United Progressive People (UPP), fully support Lt. Gen Geoffrey Choongo Zyeele, the Army Commander and we find the clarification of what he meant by the Minister of Defence to be misplaced. The context in which every word was uttered is very clear.
The rules of engagement are unambiguous. Anyone anywhere who attempts to point a weapon at military or law enforcement officers invites the use of lethal force to disable or neutralise him. There is nothing arguable about this.
The main remit of our statement has nothing to do with the issues related to mining, which we shall address in a separate statement. Over the years, a dangerous trend has sadly emerged in our country whereby political players drag the commanders of defence forces, police and correctional services command, and our hardworking members of the intelligence community into politics. This is an exposition of how indiscipline among all of us has reached alarming levels.
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We urge all “politicians” to immediately desist from this unpatriotic culture. All who are properly initiated in the art of government understand that it’s the holders of policy making positions (the President and Ministers) at whose command defence and security wings operate. Thus, all political rhetoric must be restricted to fellow politicians.
Defence and security personnel deal with sensitive security (external and domestic threats – counterterrorism and intelligence), economic, environmental, cyber threats, among others. Whereas it’s possible for those “who may be close” to intelligence to have basic details, it’s only the President and Commander in Chief who has A1 intelligence (firsthand and detailed). Therefore, it’s very careless of all political players to directly confront commanders who operate with sensitive intelligence that ordinary political players do not have.
The northern border areas of North Western, Copperbelt and Luapula Provinces are delicate and many Zambians are not even aware that there have been historic moments that rebels in the Katanga Region have crossed into Zambia and killed some Zambians, but the swift and effective actions of our military have quietly vanquished such external threats. UPP fully supports the decisions of our commanders to stop internal and external threats. We can learn from Israel where whenever there is an internal or external security threat, all opposition political parties dissolve to be part of the government of national unity to confront the threats as a united people. The UPP-led Government will implement a mandatory conscription of the youth into the army and this will also be part of rebuilding the lost security consciousness among many Zambians.Saviour ChishimbaParty PresidentUPP
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