By Daily Revelation Correspondent
The police have dismissed information about Mafinga South member of parliament Faith Munthali, having collapsed in police cells and thereafter rushed to the Intensive Care Unit in Isoka, where she is hospitalised.
And Muchinga Province police commissioner Lubinda Mayamba said Munthali was due for a court appearance yesterday, but they would wait to be communicated through the court channels on when she would appear.
Asked to comment on the information that Munthali fainted in police custody and had to be rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at a public hospital in Isoka, where she was granted bond following prior dilly-dallying from the police, Mayamba said: “The matter is before court I can’t comment on that one. The matter is before court.”
But his junior, assistance police public relations officer Timothy Malumo asked the journalist if they were in Mafinga.
He said the police was everywhere, therefore when they gave out information it meant the same was credible.
Malumo said Munthali was given a police bond after meeting the requirements for her to be issued with one.
He said Munthali was actually scheduled to appear in court yesterday.
”If she has not appeared maybe you find out what reasons the lawyers given. So that maybe it confirms what you are alleging, because us we don’t know whether she’s sick or she’s not sick,” Malumo said. “Our statement is that she has been given a police bond, so she’s no longer in police custody.”
But reminded that Mayamba had earlier said ‘it was alright’ for police to have given Munthali bond while in ICU, and that Munthali’s party CF had said she had collapsed while in police custody which necessitated her being rushed to the hospital, Malumo said there were a lot of stories on social media.
”There are those that are pushing propaganda on social media. So they have their own agendas. But you do well to get official statement and the official statement from the police is a well-known position that the area member of parliament for Mafinga South had been granted police bond. That’s where we are,” Malumo said. “Look, look, when the same suspect was arrested, was apprehended on the Copperbelt, what were the same political parties saying? What were the same social media commentators saying? They were saying they have abducted an area member of parliament, isn’t it? So they can say whatever they want to say but for you you will rely on official statement that is coming from credible authorities. So how can a police officer abduct another fellow human being? So if someone is arrested they are arrested by the police.”
Malumo warned against following what commentators and politicians were saying on social media, as they were saying “things that want to suit themselves.”
”So the issues of someone falling ill or whatever it is that should be confirmed with the doctors at the hospital, that yes this person is sick,” Malumo said. “That’s why even when someone has died we wait for the doctors to certify that this person has died. It’s not the police to pronounce someone dead, isn’t it? It’s the doctors that will pronounce that this one has been brought here, they are dead.”
But her party has insisted that Munthali was hospitalised in the ICU at Isoka’s main public hospital.
CF acting president Mary Zambezi even posted a video which showed a patient being carried by the nurses into the ward.
Her other party officials who could not speak on record over her medical condition, have said they are actually seeking a referral to Lusaka as the condition and tests that have been requested cannot be done in Isoka.
”Actually the medical team have advised that she be given a referral to Dr Sakala at CFB hospital in Lusaka,” said the source familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday, Mayamba when told that Daily Revelation had been waiting for his phone call for three hours after he had earlier promised to revert in a few minutes as he needed to confirm with his officers in Isoka about Munthali’s admission to the ICU, he said: “The phone was just busy but I have been informed by the OC (officer in charge) Nakonde, and I directed him to give her bond. Yes. Yes. Yah!”
Asked to confirm that Munthali was in ICU, Mayamba said: “Yah, but I said they can be given … It’s fine.”
Asked on the fact that in short she would be granted the bond while in ICU, Mayamba said: “It’s alright.”
Daily Revelation had earlier received information indicating that the incarcerated member of parliament for Mafinga South had been hospitalised in the ICU in Isoka.
Munthali has been arrested and charged with being armed in public and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Mayamba was quoted last week as having said that the offences were allegedly committed between July 13 and August 14, 2026, in the Muyombe area of Mafinga District.
Mayamba said Munthali was allegedly in the company of a group of men said to be serving as her security personnel.
He said the men allegedly conducted themselves in a military-like manner and were armed with machetes, slashers, catapults and golf clubs, causing fear and alarm among members of the public.
He said the three co-accused had already appeared before the Isoka Resident Magistrate’s Court, where they took plea.
He said Munthali was currently detained in police custody and will appear before court in due course.
