NEW Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka has admonished the police for allegedly issuing threats against members of her party who intend to contest parliamentary elections.

In an interview, Kateka said while she has not received threats from the police, some members of her party have been threatened with arrests if they contested the parliamentary elections.

“I haven’t received any threat personally but a member of our part who is standing in Ikelenge has received a threat that they will arrest them. So, they have no grounds for arresting that person but she has received that threat. It’s very straight forward, why should people threaten other people, why are we going back to the day of oppression as though we are in a one-party state. It’s totally unacceptable. People should not threaten anyone. It’s our human rights to be in the opposition and to support a party of our choice. We all shouldn’t have to fall into the ruling party. And I keep telling the police that they just had better work professionally. They seem to forget that it’s possible that the government of the day will change and it will change,” said Kateka.

“So, what are they going to do then? It’s not up to me to say whether or not HH is being threatened because I am not privy to that and I will not come to a conclusion that those are the threats that he is getting. We are a very new party and because of that we are not required to have a convention. It’s not a requirement. And the chances of getting to State House are as good as they are for everyone else. We are trying our level best and that is all we have to do for now. It’s just to try our best because we have the same chances as everybody else to get to State House.”