By Mwansa Kaumba
NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile says the militia story by Inspector General of police Graphael Musamba and Secretary to Cabinet Patrick Kangwa are a rise meant to shift the state’s crimes and extra judicial killing of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya.
And Mundubile has vowed to challenge “the steal” of elections from the Zambian people.
In a statement from Mundubile issued by his media people, the opposition leader charged that Musamba and Kangwa were trying to shift attention from the extra judicial killing of a former minister.
”The militia story by IG Musamba and Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa are a ruse meant to shift the state crimes and extra judicial killing of Mutotwe Kafwaya,” Mundubile stated. “The IG and Kangwa must explain why it took them almost a week to announce the death of Kafwaya, done only on 19th August after the cold blooded kill on 14th August at 212 Kudu Road near State House.”
He stated that making Kudu Road near State House the lair of militia is like planning a terrorism attack right in front of the White House in the USA or the Union Building in Pretoria.
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Mr Musamba your story of militia sounds like what the English would say a ‘cheese-cake tale.’ It has too many holes not even a five year old child can believe this fable,” he stated.
He vowed to push through with the petition.
”The petition remains on the table challenging the election and we shall not relent. They better lawyer up because we are coming for them to challenge the steal of the election from the Zambian people whom I love so much,” he vowed.
He accused state operatives of staging a deliberate assassination attempt at his residence, describing the fatal shooting of his confidante Kafwaya as “A Mission to Kill.”
“The intention by the state operatives with guns was clear in mind as far as I am concerned,” Mundubile stated in a statement issued Thursday from a safe sanctuary. “It was A Mission to Kill.”
This marks the first time Mundubile has spoken publicly following Musamba’s Wednesday statement that a joint security team was pursuing a “militia group.”
Mundubile dismissed the narrative outrightly: “The story Mr Musamba is trying hard to plant in the minds of Zambians is hog wash, it’s a cock and bull story that cannot be told even by the lowest police constable. There was no militia, there never will be militia, I am not militia. I am a trained lawyer, lawmaker and accountant. My ilk that were arrested are the same as I.”
He added: “If I was a dangerous militia leader why did it take the police IG to only report this scary terror story six days to tell the nation. Hon. Mutotwe Kafwaya my friend and colleague now dead in the service of the nation is a chartered accountant, Reverend Trevor Mwamba is a 68 year old retired Anglican Bishop and lawyer from Canterbury, Counsellor George Chisanga is a Cambridge educated lawyer, Patrick Mwansa is a respected businessman. Is this a profile of Militia operating on Kudu road in Kabulonga?”
Mundubile insisted that no sophisticated weapons were found at his residence.
“If they had found any sophisticated weapons on my premises they would have paraded state media ZNBC, Daily Mail, Times of Zambia the same day to display them to the public on camera, that is their standard operating procedure but there was non I repeat, non, zero so they could not parade any media and show the weapons off,” he stated.
He questioned why he was detained and released the same day.
“Here is another interesting fact, why was I detained and released the very same day if I was leading a dangerous militia group and dangerous weapons were found on my premises,” Mundubile stated. “The police IG is now trying to cover up but the trouble with a cover up is it makes one tell more lies, the more the IG talks the less believable he becomes and the more Zambians see through his mask of lies.”
Mundubile charged. “The cover up becomes worse than the actual crime and the truth here that remains undisputed is that the joint state team killed in cold blood my friend Kafwaya who was unarmed. They shot down an unarmed man in my presence, they do not even have the grace to apologise to his family or the nation after taking six days to admit that they killed an innocent man. They shot him in my bedroom twice in my view, in the view of my wife Asled, and missed me by an inch after seeing what they had done to Kafwaya.”
On the role of ex servicemen, Mundubile said: “My body guard Richard Banda was an ex policeman and everyone including Mr Hichilema hires former trained qualified service people, commandos etc to protect them. It’s not rocket science. Ex servicemen need jobs after they are retired. It’s not a crime for them to serve either myself or Mr Hichilema.”
He accused Musamba of distraction.
“Mr Musamba the IG should not distract the good Zambian people from the sad reality that his joint team killed a father, a husband and hushed the story up for six days,” Mundubile stated. “Me on the other hand called the media less than an hour after I was shot at with my friends, after an attempt on my life, after the shooting in cold blood of brother Kafwaya.”
He called on international solidarity.
“Zambia is the last bastion of democracy in Sub Saharan Africa. It’s been so since the return to multi party politics in 1991 and before that it was the hub and capital of colonial liberation of all countries in the region. The international community must help protect this because like a glass, if it breaks it cannot be mended.”
He concluded by restating,” he stated.
Mundubile stated that the European Union (EU) had expressed “grave concern” over the violence and urged Zambian authorities to “ensure accountability and transparency in the aftermath of the raid.”
He also stated that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission noted “serious irregularities” and said the shooting “casts a shadow over Zambia’s democratic credentials.”
”The United Nations Great Lakes office described the incident as “deeply troubling,” adding that Zambia’s reputation as a regional model of peaceful transition “is at risk,” Mundubile stated. “Election observers from the African Union, the Commonwealth, and the Carter Centre have all called for restraint and demanded the immediate release of those detained during the raid. The EU mission stressed that ‘political opponents must not be treated as enemies of the state,’ while SADC emphasized that “the sanctity of life must be respected in all electoral processes.”
