By 
Leader of Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP), Kelvin Fube, has decried what he described as a disturbing pattern of injustice, selective application of the law, and a shrinking democratic space under President Hakainde Hichilema’s UPND government over the past four years.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday, Fube cited investigations and restrictions involving the family of former President Edgar Lungu, saying these had raised serious concerns of political vendetta rather than impartial justice.
He said that in a constitutional democracy, family members are not political combatants and that justice should never resemble punishment by association.
“Democracy is not measured by elections alone — it is measured by how power is exercised between elections. Zambia Must Prosper speaks not from anger, but from facts, principle, and concern for the Republic,” Fube said.
He alleged that across the country, opposition leaders and political figures had faced frequent arrests, prolonged detention, and selective prosecution.
Fube warned that when the law appeared to pursue political identity more aggressively than criminal conduct, public confidence in the justice system collapsed.
“Cyber and communication laws have increasingly been used to arrest, intimidate, and imprison citizens — bloggers, activists, journalists, and ordinary Zambians — for expressing opinions critical of those in power,” he said.
Fube further stated that the continued detention and prosecution of political actors under laws that had been repealed, declared obsolete, or widely criticised constituted a grave violation of legal certainty, a core principle of the rule of law.
He emphasised that no citizen should be imprisoned under a law that no longer existed.
“A democracy that fears criticism has already begun to fail. Scripture warns: ‘Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.’ (Isaiah 10:1),” Fube said.
He added that when police, prosecutors, and regulatory bodies were perceived as extensions of political power, democracy inevitably suffered.
Fube stressed that institutions of governance must serve the Constitution, not the ruling party.
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