UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema faces arrest and arraignment in court if he does not retract a statement he made in June that the Patriotic Front youths would undergo military training in Sudan.
Correspondence in the Daily Mail possession between the Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito and Inspector-General of Police Stella Libongani indicates that the opposition leader has been given an opportunity to retract his statement before investigators.
Although Mr Hichilema appeared before investigators yesterday, he did not retract his statement and his supporters who had thronged Central Police Station in Lusaka had to be dispersed with tear gas.
Mr Hichilema has since been summoned again to Police headquarters and Lusaka Province Commissioner of Police Solomon Jere yesterday said if he fails to show up today, he will be arrested in accordance with the DPP’s directive.[pullquote] “The law is very clear. If someone is on the police wanted list, we will follow him whether he is in the air, water or on the ground. We will track him down,” Dr Jere warned.[/pullquote]
“The law is very clear. If someone is on the police wanted list, we will follow him whether he is in the air, water or on the ground. We will track him down,” Dr Jere warned.
He added: “In consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions. a directive was made that Mr Hichilema retracts his statement so that the case comes to a close.”
And a letter from the DPP, dated August 8, 2012, states just that:
1. That the suspect be summoned to appear before the investigators immediately.
2. That he be given an opportunity to make an ordinary statement (i.e a statement not under caution) in which he should retract the inaccurate statement he made.
3. Should he proceed in this fashion, I direct that the docket be closed and no further action should be taken against the suspect.
4. Should he refuse to retract, have the suspect arrested and arraigned in court for the captioned offence.”
On June 11, 2012 at a press briefing, Mr Hichilema claimed that Government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Sudan for Sudanese militias to train PF youths.
But in his letter to Ms Libongani, Mr Nchito writes: “This information is unfortunately not borne out by the evidence seeing as the suspect elected to remain silent when challenged by your officers under warn-and- caution.”
And Dr Jere yesterday said police failed to interview Mr Hichilema because he went to Lusaka Central Police accompanied by an unruly crowd. In the morning, police fired tear gas to disperse the cadres.
There was a near stampede as cadres, journalists and other members of public scampered for safety. The incident happened on the second floor as cadres insisted that Mr Hichilema could not take a seat on the bench as he waited to be interviewed.
Police fired teargas and three people got injured in the process. The interview was subsequently postponed.[pullquote]“We would like to apologise to members of the press who were caught up in the tear-smoking. Some police officers were also affected,” he said.[/pullquote]
Dr Jere at a press briefing in the afternoon apologised unreservedly for the tear gas that smoked journalists covering Mr Hichilema’s appearance at the police.
“We would like to apologise to members of the press who were caught up in the tear-smoking. Some police officers were also affected,” he said.
Dr Jere guaranteed the safety of journalists covering such events. He, however, warned that the police will not tolerate unruly behaviour of cadres from any political party, including the PF.
Dr Jere explained that Mr Hichilema was summoned to the police so that he can shed more light on his claims that the Patriotic Front government had sent youths to Sudan to train as militia.
And police deputy spokesperson Charity Munganga said in an interview that police summoned Mr Hichilema and not cadres. Mr Hichilema has accused Government of turning the country into a police state.
The UPND leader claimed that 15 people were injured in the fracas.
“They called us here to attack us, people are injured, 15 people are injured upstairs,” he said.
And his lawyer Jack Mwiimbu said Mr Hichilema will wait for the next course of action by the police. “They told us what to do and we co-operated but I do not think they will get the same co-operation next time,” Mr Mwiimbu said.
And chief government spokesperson Kennedy Sakeni has condemned Mr Hichilema for going to the Lusaka Central Police Station with cadres. Mr Sakeni said it is absurd for Mr Hichilema, who claims to be a man of integrity, to go to the police station with cadres instead of going with his lawyer.[pullquote]“Why did he take a group of cadres with him to a police station? This is unacceptable because a police station is not a venue for political activity but for serious business. That issue should not have involved cadres,” Mr Sakeni said.[/pullquote]
He said it is disappointing that the UPND leader behaved in such a manner.
“We condemn Mr Hichilema for what he did this morning [yesterday] at the Lusaka Central Police Station. This is the worst kind of indiscipline. Why did he mobilise cadres to follow him when he was summoned alone?”
“Why did he take a group of cadres with him to a police station? This is unacceptable because a police station is not a venue for political activity but for serious business. That issue should not have involved cadres,” Mr Sakeni said.
He said Mr Hichilema, who is vying for the highest office of the land, should have respected the police and advised his cadres not to accompany him. Mr Sakeni said what happened at the Lusaka Central Police Station is unfortunate and will not be tolerated by Government in future. Mr Sakeni also advised UPND cadres against being used as tools of political violence.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Why is the DPP intimidating H.H? Is there no freedom of expression in Zambia? Such news causes me such heartache.Where is Zambia headed to?
Bwalya, freedom of expression is there but we should not stretch that to mean uttering things that border on bringing chaos to our country! HH is aiming to be president of this country but if he sets it on fire, what is he going to preside over? And about what happened at the police station, just like Dr. Jere said, is regrettable. However, HH should have known that taking cadres (who in most cases fail to reason) along with him would create problems, but maybe that’s what he was looking for!! Cadres getting into a police station (inside) and misbehaving! what do you expect the police to do? GAS THEM!
TC, But military training is mandatory in Universities and colleges in Sudan. Pf is sending its cadres there. By implication, they will also train like that. Since whne did Sudan start sponsoring Zambians into colleges and Universities? Why should only PF cadres qualify to there if its a genuine offer to the nation by Sudan?
TC
It is amazing how people like you are ignoring the very fact that this is a democratic society and people should have the right to express themselves and accuse Govt for what they believe Govt is up to. This Govt did not tell you that it increased their salaries by 100%, did they? No but they were exposed. That alone is more likely to cause civil unrest in the country than it likely through what HH said in relation to military training in Sudan or indeed visiting hone college. This Govt is an oppressive Govt and people like you need to accept that and join arms in challenging for the benefit of the nation. This is more important than party politics.
TC, what is bordering on chaos, is A GOVT THAT DEPORTS EASILY TARGETED PRIESTS WHO SPEAK FOR THE POOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
arrest him!!!!
Mr. Sakeni has a very short memory. Has he forgotten that his boss UKWA used to go with cadres to the police station? This is politics baba, you need a strategy not integrity.
So because H.E. Sata while in opposition went to DEC offices and was gased so HH should do the same and get away with it? What a shallow thinker you are.
Stupid Police, Stupic Sakeni and Foolish government.
Mutembo Nchito and Stella Libongan, you are really *****s! I guess you can only get those positions under Sata.
That is why it is a known fact that Sakeni bed wets. This is the disease that make people have short memory. Because when they dream that they are urinating, they do it on the bed. When his wife nearly went public, he pleaded
Bed wetting is a health condition. Who among us is without any illness? Some people have trouble with one or both ears, others their eye strength is not equal in both eyes, others suffer with athletes foot, while others have dental issues.
No one is 100% healthy. Let us not attack people because they have an impediment because we all have them.
He should just pair up with Dora Sillier!!!
The police probably will do well to get some more insights from Mr Kabimba Wynter who stated to the whole world that the PF has signed a memorandum of understanding with the gov’t of Sudan to train some PF youths. What is the training about……..they can start from there may be.
some of the minister in this govt don’t look normal to me..just look at how he looks like..?with saliva ll over his mouth..why should there be such correspondence with DPP.whats his interest?
Mutembo Nchito and Stella Libongan are *****s with little brains.
There was no need to go with cadres. He should just have gone with his lawyer
useles police and its govt
Sata will go in history as the most useless president Zambia the country has ever had, apart from being incompetent and underperformance the thug has no clue on how to run a government . If not checked this tribalistic thug will divide the country.i wish mwanawasa never dispatched him to south africa when he had a heart attack
p***n** pa m*i wako
No one is talking about the Kwacha appreciating
I find it strange for DPP and Police to persecute ordinary citizens when there are a lot of criminal cases to concentrate their time and energy on. how can the police sink law like that? You have failed to crack down Henry and many others and yet you claim to say you ”can crack down a suspect whether in air, water or vacuum”. lets wait and see!!
Sakeni you are very dull that you can not remember your actions during MMD rule. How many times was CNP accommpanied by your cadres. Just because you are in power and using the state machinery to justify your stupidity but remember 2016 is coming fast and you will pay for your actions.
Why only apologise to journalists and not the other people who were also injured? No matter what the urgument is, human rights should be respected. The police must find a better way of handling such cases because politicians will always be escorted by their cadres- SATA used to do the same with his PF cadres. The police need to put guilde lines on the number of escortees to go into the offices in order to avoid such unnecessary avoidable incidences in future.
Mr sakeni which former opposition leader was accompanied by kaponyas when was called alone at DEC offices?
Apologize and it is game over, but this HH thing is f00lishly stubborn to retract his ridiculous and groundless statement.
If he refuses, then let him have his day in court….. end of story
No. 17 waba e-tall-ay. If u r eating with UKWA just eat in silence can’t that UKWA is turning into a dictator at a very fast pace.
This country will be another zimbabwe in the hands of UKWA and very f00lish pipo like sakeni lulenda & mitimbwi nchiny.o
I agree, we are heading the same way, how long before commercial farmers are removed with force??
HH don’t give the chance let the sweat we need them to work.hahahahahah
Stayla and Solmon stop the gruesome murders in lusaka dont persecute harmless pipo who r just expressing their views how many pipo died at hone when HH visited none. U useless officers u have just become UKWA’s dogs. Remember Kabonde and Mlakeni where there.
HH don’t give them chance let the sweat we need them to work. hahahahahah
Is this hw you make pipo work by making false allegations? he hi is just an underfive politician who will learn it the hard way to become meaningful to zambian politics,
HH should have only gone with his lawyer, senior member of his Party and a limited number os sympathisers, am sure police would have accepted that, most of these people would have remained outside awaiting his release. But because he wants media coverage, cheap publicity and making himself bigger than he really is, he chose to cause commotion by going with a bunch of unruly cadres demanding that he uses his plastic chair!! Let him retract his alarming statement on Sudan or appear in court!!!
from the comments that have been made so far, iv realized that most bloggers are not seeing the bigger picture in all this. Understand that the statement made by HH can create problems between Zambia & Sudan. These are no longer national issues that HH is meddling in, these are International relations that he is meddling in and for the sake of unity, HH must retract his statement if at all he is a responsible citizen & leader!!
Pixxy
I think you are also missing the bigger picture and the root cause of all the instability currently affecting Zambia. Zambia is now a Police state by all accounts. It is under the dictatorship rule of Michael Sata and the continuous denial by PF symphathizers will not change this fact. HH is an opposition leader, and perhaps second to Mumba in significance, and his comments have/should have no real impact on Zambia/Sudan relations unless he was in Govt and speaking on behalf of Govt. As Zambians we have very simplistic minds that make us susceptible for manipulation. We have no time to critically analys situations hence accepting anything as long as it is said by our favoured party leaders even when the truth is there for everyone to see. Sometimes it’s prudent to put Zambia first.
Are the Sudanese so dim that they can’t adjudge these comments as being national politicking? Are they incapable of seeing that HH does not speak on behalf the Zambian govt? Why do people think international relations are for grade school kids for them to assume that statements like these coming from oppisition politicians can cause problems between nations? The police are simply overreacting.
Malibu yaku ilombela. Lets learn from the past. When the Politicians fight only the Cadre gets hurt. So be careful
This HH thing with less than half the brain of an amoeba thinks stup1dity will give it political mileage.
As citizens we are able to intelligently differentiate between genuine complaints/issues from opposition parties from that of their (opposition) hot smelly gases from their rears.
and you think you are any better, YOU who writes i as a 1. You are an uneducated man from what I can see since you can read the mood of the nation and where this government is taking our beloved country.
Too bad the masses blogging have no sense of reasoning. Please see right withine, not without. HH is wrong heshoud just retract the statement, kutaupela.
Those of you saying SATA used to be accompanied by cadres whenever he was called, are you saying HH will also become a dictator or apppoint his fellow Tongas if he becomes president? Two wrongs do dot make a right. HH should concentrate on strategising on how to win elections rather than on how to distabilse the country.
hichilema is a big fool,and he will never rule the country.
better no rule than making a fool of your self like your cnp. 2016 HH
NO RETREAT NO RETRACTION..we know its mutembo nchito using fred membe scheming all this. NO APOLOGY TO MAKE JUST ARREST HIM AS PER YOUR PLAN AND BEAR THE CONSQUENSES.didnt winter kabimba tell the nation about PF sending cardres to the wor ton sudan?????????????? VIVA HH
upnd cadres with your under five hh, you are just wasting your time coz the people who will remove pf are not yet born. hh is a useless politician i have never seen, is just a boy hungry for power.
Only foolish bembas like you see such. we love HH so dearly FYI
Why can’t he just retract his statement? Arrogant piece of rubbish
#24 – I think you are the one missing the big picture here. What training would Zambians get from a country as backward as Sudan? Are these not the same Janjaweeds who were burchering our fellow black brothers and sisters in Darfur and Southern Sudan? Apart from malitia training, what else can one learn from Khartoum? Further, has Sata shown us the guns KK was allegedly hiding in Sindamisale to start war lest he lost in 1991? Talk of the BA64 lies that have fueled secessionist sentiments in Barotseland, was that not treason well worthy of a police call out to CNP to exculpatye himself. If I were HH, I would never yield to this Bemba govt, of the Bembas for the Bembas!
Sindamisale, BA64, Fake Kwacha printed from China, Circulating fake kwacha……. name them. God bless Zedi.Only God knows the future.
& it is because of people like you & HH that would cause Civil Unrest in Zambia!!!
cnp CNP cnpiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,life yapa zed ni CNP…dont worry am composing a song.
HH made a mistake. A leader of the opposition who aspires to lead a nation must not be a demolitionist.
Let HH prove the State was about to send the youths to Sudan for the purported militia training. Failing this, let him swallow his stupid pride and apologise to the Zambian people for misguiding us, and for using incorrect intelligence sources. It is simple.
aSKED WINTER RED LIPS MADE THIS STATEMENT. after HH commented they kept quite
I think HH would have gone with his lawyer,Why should he go with a bunch of unruly cadres?If anything,putting him in cells would have been better.
And then I considered what the politicians were doing. And what the cadres were doing. And what the bloggers thought of all that…It was vanity, vanity of vanities. It was like chasing the wind. Because nothing seemed to make any sense. Because while all this was going on, the real victims; with access to the internet to make their views, to the politicians to receive of the many promises…They continue to suffer and suffer and die
*37 no access
PF cadres on this site are dull. DPP should start with Kabimba who confirmed the MOU with a country that has problems with the World Body go to Malawi and they will advice u to keep away from such especially when it borders on Security. HH is not stupid to make such statements without evidence, unfortunately almost the whole PF is after his life even though they are always saying that he is no threat. How come Mumba is never picked up when he makes “alarming” statements, I smell a rat
Retract the statement and rephrase it in exactly the same way the POST covered it the news paper. Present any information that substantiates that in Sudan you have to undergo military training before entering college. And the fact that this program will only be open to PF caders, you will have proved that your earlier statement was after all accurate!! no qualms about it but you would have beaten them to their game.
The DPP is losing the plot. He has behaving like a typical PF cadre. If he is very aggrieved with HH’s statement, he should sue for defamation or something less stupid.
The crimininal offence committed is before the High Court for which the DPP and the Mmembe should be held individually liable for the debt from DBZ.
It is really disheartening to see people debating on party lines seemingly blind to the pretty obvious fact that we are under the dictatorship rule of Michael Sata. What gives anyone, any doubt that this is not the case? It’s simply foolishness to deny or apportion blame on any other factor than total collapse of the rule of Law. I WILL ALSO PROPHESIZE that Sata will not leave office without Zambian blood being shed not even after a heavy defeat if he allows you to have elections in 2016. Zambians we are very simplistic in our analysis of events happening around us. We deny the obvious until its too late. We accept post and media reports as gospel truth and that makes us very vulnerable to manipulation. The post know that and so does Sata and their scheme is based on public manipulation.
Spot on.
Why should he retract what is not true ?
All that machinery is meant to retract a statement.
What I know is that a normal police wont tell a thief to take back what they have stolen or face arrest.
The statement is there and so let the police apply the law period.
mr jere just lock up this chap he thinks is above the law.viva polisai
This pompus boy HH should retract his useless stateent or face arrest. Let him learn to behave as a presidential material not like a child that does not know what it is doing. What a loser is HH.
this chap wants sympathy from the western countries by causing confusion so you fools supporting him should reason, my president sata is the man of peace so he will never cause any crime against humanity which hh wants. polisai keep an eye on this chap..
even a mosquito will be arrested if it continues to disturb the peace of my people in this nation!
so nothing about this hh !
You people do not understand politics. There is a time a person you refer to as “under five” proves the point that he is not “under five”. The man is testing the minds of PF leadership. The best way to silience the leader of the opposition is not to respond to the wild allegations. What the police / DPP is doing is making the man popular. Whatever you do or write negative/positive about HH you are campaigning for him. I am disappointed about Dr. Solomon Jere. I wonder what Jere would say to HH when they meet at the church tomorrow – saturday.
Dr Mumba is on recording saying State had hire people from Zim to kill him. What was the reaction from the state mild or non. What is that is different from HH this time around. This has nothing to do with what he said that all to do with pinning him down based on his tribe. Shame that we are having a state machinary fighting people based on tribe.
Cisi cesu, whether you worhsip with someone, that should not change how you treat them if they have contravened the law.
Once Hakainde made the statement that the PF government is training militias in Sudan, then he was ready to go in front of the courts of law and substantiate the above accusation! Failure to prove this hallucinatic statement may land Hakande with a heavy penalty fine and/or prison sentence. Hakainde is starting to appear like a bragging fool! It is time for this muppet lying arrogant man to be taken to the court of law and be exposed, so that all his supporters may trully know what kind of man he is!
poor hh
it was comfrmed by the pf secretary general that they have made an arrangement with the sudanese governemnt, just ask the pf secretary general. I ve even forgoten his name, is it Summer Kabwamba?
Chanda Chimba was more courageous than this guy. He just went with his lawyer. Besides chanda talked on more issues.
Ati umulandu taubola. That being so, can the police also open a docket for that person who in 1990 claimed that KK had hidden arms at his Sinda farm to fight the MMD if he lost the elections? Another docket for the same person for claiming falsely that KK was keeping Saddam Hussein at State House, thus endangering national security from US air bombardment…… Those were by far more dangerous statements that training militias in Sudan, who is threatened by that?
Some comments make me sick,,,how do you find pertinent to retract the statement over the economical crisis we are going through.Is Sudan supplying something this Gvt can’t do away with?The Mailon brothers are busy terrorizing people in Mkushi,let the DPP and the Inspector General of Police table that case instead of tarnishing this state abroad,If you hate HH,you can go to hang because the support he has is fast growing after people have realised that we were caught pants down.Am safe here where am only cry for my brothers and sisters.Remember Mr Bwalya slaughted a chicken brutally,that marked the beginning of rhe worst to come.Pliiiiiz God interven before this…..
Nothing has changed in Zambia. PF has continued the same trends of intimidation and harrasment of the Opposition just like MMD used to do, just like UNIP. No difference. There are some who had hope that these kinds of vices would end under PF, but those of us who know Sata to be a dictator are not supprised. Sata is a worse dictator than Mugabe and I smell bloodshed in Zambia very soon. I thought HH was being summoned about his visit to Hone but when they knew there was no case there, they reverted back to an old story that already been sotted out. Bemba’s are dangerous people.
Am sure any person vying for the highest position in the land must not carry his supporters to the police
Mr Sakeni should have advised mr Sata when he also went to the police wth cadres and was equally tear gased.
The DPP is compromised. He need to resign.
most of the bloggers have wildness mentality,a country with such kind of reasoning can not develop,it doesnt mean becoz sata used to be accompanied by cadres then hh has to do the same,one blogger went further to the time of kk(23 years ago) on the issue of wild allegation,sure how can we think so low and expect to develop as a nation.we in usa are being updated by CURIOSITY-most scientifically advanced robot ever sent to planet MARS,some 352 million miles(521 million).compare this with what most bloggers especially from 1 -22 and grasp their mental capacity.becoz of this was done like this then no need to change the were it is suppose to be done.wrong to wrong.sin to sin .system to system .constitution formed in 1964 to constitution enacted in 2013.lets change our mentality guys-21 cnety
Its agony in Zambia how political issues are analysed. Zambia to train youths in Sudan was a PF govt standing arrangement, repeated and confirmed by a PF government official. HH reiterated over this statement and wondered how youths can be trained in Sudan when they can be trained locally. It would appear PF got rattled and the full force of government want to persecute HH over it. Does he really deserve this treatment in a free democratic Zambia?. PF would have simply refuted, corrected or clarified their statement for Zambians to judge for themselves. Using police force to harass, tear gass and beat up people is being UNCIVILISED.
ITS VERY TRUE LAW MUST BE FOLLOWED. ONE CANNOT JUST OPEN HIS MOUTH AND START SAYING ANYTHING WITHOUT THINKING. IN FACT IF HH WERE A TRUE LEADER HE WOULD HAVE CURBED HIS BITTERNESS FOR LOSING THE ELECTIONS AND CONCENTRATED ON PREPARING FOR 2016 ELECTIONS BY BEING A TRUE OPPOSITION LEADER WHO CRITICISES AND OFFERS SOLUTIONS TO THE PF GOVT. IN FACT HE HAS BEEN GIVEN AN OLIVE BRANCH BY ALLOWING HIM CHANCE TO RETRACT HIS F00LISH STATEMENT.
H.H is scared to go sleep in police cells lelo lelo. He must be shitting in his pants hahaha!
hh should be arrested for daring institution of governance, for pomposity, for lumpenese, for stupidity, for overrating himself, for issuing uninterlectual statements, for been a terrorist.
Zambian politicians are given to making unsubstantiated statements. There is a limit to freedom of speech. Issuing statements such as HH did is unacceptable. Also the practice of taking cadres to the police station and court should stop. Unfortunately all of them do it. HH just needs to provide evidence or apologize like a grown up. A British MP from the Conservative party was made to apologize by his party after accusing the Labour party of conspiring with the Soviet Union to introduce a one party state in the UK. He was also facing arrest but he apologized and the case was dropped. This only shows how unfit for office HH is.