MUSICIAN and civil rights activist Chama Fumba popularly known as Pilato says Zambians are ready to go all the way if that’s what it will take to defend their democracy.

At a media briefing with his fellow youth governance activists, late Friday evening, Pilato urged the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to act in the interest of the people, further stating that the commission had no power to undermine the rights of people.

“Democracy works and we will make it work here in Zambia. We will not let any institution or any individual undermine the voice of our people. We will not let ECZ continue misbehaving just to protect the emotions of an individual. The people that were denied the voice on the streets, the young people who could not be given the platform to speak had an opportunity to go and vote and we voted. ECZ must act in the interest of the people, they have no power to undermine the rights of the people. We are ready to go all the way to defend our voices, to defend our democracy, to defend our dignity as the people,” he said.

“We are not in any way planning to stop and if it means us risking it all for democracy then we are ready to risk it all. We are ready to go all the way and I mean all the way. If police are allowed to be used against us, we are ready to face the police even without a weapon in our hands. We insist that the voices of our people must be heard, we insist that democracy must be allowed to grow.”

Pilato said much as peace was treasured in the country, it should never come at the expense of injustice.

“No one, not ECZ, not the government, not the police will be allowed to compromise the progression of our democracy. My message to ECZ is to save this country. In this country we were given defective condoms, millions of our dollars were stolen by individuals in this country. You will not steal our votes, you will not steal anyone’s votes. If that arrogance is because you have guns, we will still confront them. We will defend our voice, we will defend our democracy even if it means the worst, that I must insist,” said Pilato.

“Yes we are peace-loving citizens but if peace has to come at the expense of injustice we are ready to lose that peace. Peace is nice but we are not ready to surrender our freedoms, we are not ready to surrender our commitment, we are not ready to surrender our dignity just to have peace. We were colonised and we will not allow anyone be it ECZ or Mr Lungu. We will defend our freedom, freedom to speak like we spoke. We will stand and protect ourselves.”