HUMAN Rights activist Brebner Changala has disclosed that suspended Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mutembo Nchito is trying to get sympathy from him and that he pleaded with him to avoid the tribunal.
“I am surprised with the amount of desperation that Mr. Mutembo Nchito is exhibiting over his impending Tribunal Hearing. The last few days have been characterized by Mr. Nchito and Mr. M’membe of the Post Newspapers Limited trying all sorts of tactics to try and avoid the Tribunal. These range from trying to get sympathy from me, attempting to scandalize me, having surrogates try to intimidate me and even secretly setting up meetings to plead with me,” he said.
He added that, “As everybody who is aware of my recorded interview that has been published by the Post, and as to how different it is from the headline banners in the Post, will wish to know that there is a serious conspiracy behind the scene to discredit and distort the truth surrounding the Tribunal. For example the recording does not state the questions and show the spirit of the interview but instead it starts in the middle of one of my answers.”
Mr Changala in statement released in Lusaka yesterday stated;
On Friday 17th April 2015 in an attempt to get sympathy from me Mr. Nchito approached me and started making small talk to me at the Tribunal. This was a clear attempt to get sympathy from me.
I want to clearly state that I feel nothing but the utmost sympathy for Mr. Nchito in view of the situation that he has created for himself and his associates. The sympathy I feel for him does not take away from the fact that Mr. Nchito has to face up to the charges made against him and it is only after having the Tribunal clear his name that he will ever be able to walk the streets of Zambia with his head held high.
There was a change of tact and on the same day I got a lot of verbal abuse from Mr. Tayali at the Tribunal saying the charges were going nowhere and I was wasting time. I believe this is the same thing Mr. Tayali said about the charges he is facing in the subordinate court.
I did not answer Mr. Tayali as he seemed to be extremely emotional about the whole thing and I could not understand why he was taking the plight of the DPP so personally as if his very future depended on Mr. Nchito’s fate.
The next change of tact was through the Post Newspaper insisting on having an interview on Wednesday 15th April 2015 which they kept and analyzed as to how best to present it to suit their storyline. It took them a full five days to decide how to package and present the interview. In the end they attempted to use it to deflect attention from the charges that Mr. Nchito is supposed to answer and they focused on allegations which do not form any part of the six charges he is supposed to answer. They also attempted to bring President Lungu into the picture and made up a conspiracy plot which I am not privy to.
On April 2015 I realised just how desperate Mr. Nchito was when he requested for a clandestine meeting with me at which his aim was to plead to me to save him.
Mr. Nchito requested that the meeting be at Inter Continental Hotel and this made me mistakenly believe that he wanted an open meeting in a public place. I got to Intercontinental in good time by 14:00 hours to wait for Mr. Nchito and decided to do some work in the business bureau as I waited.
Sometime after 14:00 hours I received a call from Mr. Nchito that he was in the Inter Continental car park and I should go outside and meet him there. As I had already gone that far I decided to go outside and meet him in the car park.
To my surprise Mr. Nchito was not dressed in an easily recognizable fashion, or in a suit as he usually is, but was in a tracksuit. He told me that he did not want us to talk in the car park but that I should get in his car and we should drive around as we spoke. It was clear that he wanted this meeting to be as secretive as possible.
Once inside his car he started pleading his case to me and telling me that he had acted in certain cases on instructions and the actions being attributed to him were not his own decisions. He talked about the nolles, the debts of Zambian Airways, what was owed to Finance Bank Limited, his relationship with Fred M’membe and many other things.
The trip took close to three hours and he passionately tried to plead his case to me. I was surprised as to why he wanted to plead the case to me instead of the Tribunal in order to clear his name.
The reason why he was pleading his case to me became clear after he handed me a dossier which he stated explained away all the charges. He also showed me, but did not leave me with, copies of documents and letters he said would help his case.
After doing this he then hit me with a bombshell. Mr. Nchito pleaded that I write a letter to the President withdrawing my letters seeking for a tribunal to be set up and that I should state that it had now come to my knowledge that all the charges against him were unfounded.
As I was frankly very surprised by this plea from Mr. Nchito I told him that I could not do such a thing without talking to my lawyers. At this point he pleaded with me not to talk to my lawyers or tell them about the meeting and drive we were having. This meeting was strictly to remain between Mr. Nchito and myself.
I decided I could not write the letter the DPP was pleading for because this would be subverting the work of the Tribunal. It is for the Tribunal to investigate the allegations and make their findings and not for me to supplant their authority. I took the view that Mr. Nchito should present his case to the Tribunal and not to me who is a mere witness in the proceedings.
Soon after this clandestine meeting I got a press querry from the Post Newspaper where similar issues to the discussion I earlier had with the DPP were canvassed.
Later I became disturbed that the DPP had approached me knowing I was a witness and also knowing that I had legal representation. I remembered the DPP in one of the cases he was handling complaining that there was a chance that the accused person would interfere with witnesses. I am still asking myself whether the secret approached request from the DPP did not amount to interfering with a witness. I also wonder if other witnesses have also been taken on a similar drive around Lusaka with the same motive and intent.
I now understand why he was insistent that the issue of the request for a letter should not be told to my lawyers. I wish to make it clear that the issues that the Tribunal are to look into are not dependent on my view over the same. Many ordinary Zambians, and those in the legal profession, feel that these are legitimate issues that the Tribunal
should probe. Mr. Nchito should therefore not hope that the Tribunal will go away by either threatening, scandalising or even asking me to write a letter of “exoneration” of the DPP. The only body at this stage that can exonerate him is the Tribunal.
If anyone doubts my recollection of what was said and requested by the DPP I would ask them to find out from Mr. Nchito or indeed ask him to produce the recording of our drive round Lusaka
How credible is this Changala man? He sounds like a conman to me. It is like he is trying to ‘eat with both hands’.
This Mr Changala is a very confused man and he is actually in fact proving, by his own actions, that he should not be taken serious! Remember that mother of the alleged victim of MJ abuse? She was dismissed when it was established that her testimonies could not be relied on as she appeared to be under intense, financial and personal pressures! Mr Changala has lost it, he doesn’t seem to know where he is coming from & where he is going! You can not with any seriousness base matters of national importance on what a character of this unstable deposition is saying, this whole thing is a sham!
DOUBLE TOBELA!! WITH THIS BITING ECONOMY, WHO WOULDN’T? LYAKO NAIWE CHANGALA MWANDI. JUST DO IT SMART LEST U GET CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT- COZ IF U CREATE A MAZE YOU’LL GO NUTS. BE CAREFUL!!
As to the credibility of BC, only those that have had dealing with him my vouch for or against it. In this story, BC is obviously destroying the reputation of MN; revealing the encounter with him and making it appear like MN was desperately looking for a way out of his issues in an unconventional way. That is not trying to “eat with both hands”.
To the extent that the meeting did indeed take place as Changala claims, I see nothing wrong with Mutembo actions anyway. According to Changala, Mutembo showed him a dossier evidencing away all the charges raised against him, thus informing Changala to withdraw the cases as it is clearly just a time wasting exercise. Changala could choose to do that and serve the nation costs and everyone involved the trouble & embarrassment or he could continue to avail himself to be foolishly used in cases that have no leg to stand on. What Mutembo did, if he did do it, is intact quite smart and consistent with someone who has the interest of the nation at heart.
To the extent that the meeting did indeed take place as Changala claims, I see nothing wrong with Mutembo actions anyway. According to Changala, Mutembo showed him a dossier evidencing away all the charges raised against him, thus informing Changala to withdraw the cases as it is clearly just a time wasting exercise. Changala could choose to do that and serve the nation costs and everyone involved the trouble & embarrassment or he could continue to avail himself to be f00lishly used in cases that have no leg to stand on. What Mutembo did, if he did do it, is intact quite smart and consistent with someone who has the interest of the nation at heart!
Ba Changala ikalenifye namusebana akale
na Lungu wenu .
Changala is eating from government and from the cartel. he is greedy and useless now.
Changala is a dribbler eating from both sides. It is a deliberate move by changala in order to confuse the whole case and then Nchito walks free. Meanwhile the me-too judiciary with its outdated chief justices is confused too.
Changala is as credible as they come. Time Mutembo and Mmembe danced to the tune of the law. Twanaka naimwe ba kelenka.
You the ones confused because you can not understand anything he is trying to explain. You are so dull…….like the DPP himself and his colleague M’membe of the post
Changala is of low calibre so one cannot expect anything tangible from him.
I think Mr Changala is saying the truth because reading between the lines in the interview with the Past, this tallies.
First things first, does Mr. Changala have any proof of evidence about this meeting? Or it’s his word against Nchito’s?
I hope he recorded the conversation so as to put away Nchito once and for all….because if not, then Mr. Changala is a very stupid man. He had an opportunity to make Nchito taste his own medicine by recording this purpoted conversation, failure to have done so…makes us doubt Mr. Changala.
Why are u refusing on behalf of Nchito. He is quiet meaning consent.
This thing seem to be getting worse. I can see that Mutembo will walk free from it. Ba Changala does not seem to be very stable in his assertions…!
Will be interesting to see which witnesses they come up with.
Brebners account sounds so credible. Mmembe is one support Nchito can do withouit. His daily rantings against Brebner in the Post sound increasingly like Acts of Desperation. I was aghast at the incoherent and incompreshible editorial in yesterdays Post. What gibberish, what desperation. Let the Games begin.
Mmembe twisted that interview and included President lungu. And why is Mmembe’s focus only on the drugs charge when there are more serious issues there like the nolles
Think of this. Firstly, Brebner Changala gave a similar interview to Hot FM radio and told other people that he did not at any time accuse Mutembo Nchito of planting drugs. Look at his statement refuting the Post Story on the internet. HE DOES NOT ACCUSE MUTEMBO OF PLANTING DRUGS. He accuses him of ‘entering a nolle, when he should have withdrawn the charge’. Secondly, the letter “he” wrote” to EL has the “planting drugs” accusation and so have the Terms of Ref. The question is, does he or does he not believe that Mutembo planted the drugs? If he does not, as he said in the interview & to other pipo, why include it in the letter? Or did ‘someone’ write it for him? The same person who drafted the TOR?
@6.1 GK – BC has said that the Post are only concentrating on the one charge of ‘planting drugs’ whereas he has 6 other more serious charges. Why does the Post ignore the other charges in their opinions? Because they know their man will be found ‘guilty as charged’.
@6.2 Ricky Bobby. I think that all charges will be dealt with during the tribunal sitting. The drugs issue was brought out to show “credibility” & inconsistencies. BC says Mutembo never planted drugs on him. He has said this in many fora & to many pipo. So, he believes this to be true. Then why write to the President that Mutembo planted drugs on you, when you know that is not true? The simple explanation is that someone else wrote that letter & BC signed it. The question is why?
It so happens, by “coincidence”, that the terms drafted by the AG were EXACTLY as on BC’s letter! Wow!
More drama unfolding and the best some of us can do is watch from a safe distance.
Pass the popcorns. This movie is interesting.
This Changala man is not stable it would have been nice if he can just zip up for now.
Why spill the beans now when you had a chance before the recording was released….? What child is named Berbner ? What a joke ..
CASTRATE THE CHAP.
Changala is playing games. This story is far from the truth and raises s lot of questions.
Just thinking – Mr Changala why give an interview to the Post Newspaper in the first place when its common knowledge that they twist facts. And again you go further to meet Mutembo without even being clever enough to record him as they themselves do, tamwachenjela
Not the genius Mutembo Nchito I know!
Ulelota bwino Changala, nangu cipowe mwati nifi!
You so dull and careless ba Changala,why did not you do the recording yourself??
You so dull and careless ba Changala,why did not you do the recording yourself??WHY go there alone without your lawyers???
Some of you wankers can’t even last a minute pandikiti this guy is hero in xex issues. You should have joined the pon production team in Hollywood.
Ba Changala wesu, you being the Human Rights activist did you do any recordings of your meeting on your phone or on any of your gadgets? I say so because when you are dealing with such a crooked person like Nchito, you have to be geared so that you do not fall in any trap teifyofine bane.
ba Changala stop whispering carelessly… you may end up shouting wrongly and loudly. I am one person who would not want to give an interview to the postnewspaper!!!
Mr Changala is a difficulty man to trust. How could you allow yourself to have a drive with a man you are prosecuting? Suppose this man had enough at the time were you not going for it? If he had intentions of hijacking you didnt you think you were in it? I totally agree with those who say that only those that have worked with you can tell the truth of your three-hour drive around Lusaka with Nchito. Its difficulty for a reader to get the truth from your write-up.
Could this be Kadansa reincarnated?
I am sure people who lived in Lusaka will remember an old man called Kadansa who used to give free public lectures in down town Lusaka.
Yes. He was our only source of information on GRZ. He used to tell us how KK misused the colossal amount of foreign reserve that the colonial govt left us.
This Changala is so dull and stupid. Why was charge you framed against Mutembo dropped from the list to the tribunal?
Your interview on HOT FM radio, the Post and the dropping of your accusation from the list submitted to the tribunal are not just a coincidence.
The letter that you signed to refute the story is also very contradictory. Why should DEC agree to compensate you for planting drugs on you when actually the culprit is supposed to be Mutembo?
We are adults and having been comparing both you written statements and verbal so far all of them are so contradictory.
But ba Government mwanasebana with this Changala? Anyway time will tell.
You may condemn this BC man but fact remains Mutembo is as guilty as hell. Him and the Post are just twisting you and they know very well that the corner is getting tight.
The point to take home is we should be careful not to let the rapist Tayali call himself “woman enjoyer”. Mr Brebner Changala I admire your courage but please do let the criminals, the local Zambian cartel define themselves, they will whiten themselves and their crimes. For example in the case of Mr Tayali, a woman got rapped in a dark street. She later found out who was her rapist. This rapist is a criminal and a psychopath. He has to go to prison; no sane DPP on earth can support such a crime. Why is now Tayali supporting Nchito/ Mmembe? The reason is simple. He wants the same nolle that was given to Rajan Mathani for writing off their debt of US$4.2 Million. The tribunal chair Annel Silungwe should let himself be an accomplice to these crimes. Let the cleansing begin!
I have never heard of this Changala before.
Whether he is telling the truth or not, he seems like a sly man. A snake. How do you betray someone like that? Is there any honour left among crooks?
There is a breed of characters emerging from zed which is not good.
Mr Changalala, don’t accept such interviews again. Next time “job” will gun you down.
You are actually very lucky. What if he was armed with E kheyi 47 or a rivova.
Changala ! You of all people know very well that these guys are crooks.
You should NOT have taken this RIDE IN THE CAR with Mutembo. This is your biggest mistake.
When he called you to go to the car park, you should have informed someone quickly from your phone.
Mutembo says he is innocent. Let him free himself from these allegations. Don’t complicate this due process, to allow him make additional delaying tactics.
I’m no fan of Mutembo and his cartel friends but this doesn’t sound plausible to me. The man you are prosecuting invites you to a surreptitious meeting and you can’t even bring a friend or a lawyer with you? Any reasonable person in his place would even be scared for their life… first it’s a hotel, then a car park and then a drive around. Then you agree for an interview with their proxy – not plausible at all.
And is he not committing contempt discussing tribunal proceedings in the media when he is a key witness? He’s just giving enough ammunition to the defence lawyers to discredit his star witness. Give enough rope to a f00l, they will continue entangling themselves and tightening it around their neck.
Changala’s is just confusing everybody apart from himself. The interview he claims was twisted was told to more than the POST. I personally have no confidence in this Brebner fellow. He is just being used as a front by the corrupt RB and his useless friend Chagwa-finish. Iam certain the whole scheme was hatched over a bottle of whisky as they are both known drunkards. Shame on you
I hereby write to Edgar Chagwa to appoint a tribunal within a tribunal with immediate effect with a sole term of reference being-‘to investigate and recommend appropriate action on the conduct and utterances of one Brebner Changala’. The tribunal should further determine whether Brebner is of sound mind and whether he is a reliable individual.
I further recommend that the Tribunal members be;
1. Edith Nawakwi(Chairperson)
2. Davies Chama
3. Newton Nguni
4. Bowman Lusambo(Secretary)
5. Rupiah Banda(observer)
Part of Brebner’s confused statement:
“That in my letter of 3rd March 2015, knowing that I had been framed with regards the trafficking drug charges against me and having read and learnt of the allegations by hon. newton Nguni…
15. The only word I was uncomfortable with was the use of the word “planting” which had been used in the context overtime. However. “planting” is contextual and in this case means swapping.
Furthermore, the issue of the drugs and my prosecution for drugs has never been before the Tribunal as it only arose in the indictment before the Courts of law..”
I DIDN’T KNOW THAT SWAPPING MEANS PLANTING!!
Surely the govt must be ashamed of themselves. These are the people you use to bring down a DPP and free RB?