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Eric Chanda arrested, locked up for ‘insulting President Lungu’

By editor
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Fourth Republican Party president Erick Chanda
Fourth Republican Party president Erick Chanda

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Fourth Republican Party president Erick Chanda
Fourth Republican Party president Erick Chanda

Fourth Revolution leader Eric Chanda has been arrested and thrown in police cells at Lusaka Central Police Station.

Mr Chanda, who is also Orange Alliance Secretary General is accused of defaming President Edgar Lungu. 

Police Spokesperson Charity Munganga Chanda told Journalists that Mr Chanda has been formally arrested for the offence of defamation of the President in connection with an article on the 9th of May 2015 in the Post Newspaper indicating that President Lungu had gone to Mfuwe to play pool and clubbing at the expense of taxpayers.

Mrs Chanda said the opposition figure was arrested this morning and is currently in custody and will appear in court soon.

Mr. Chanda becomes the latest opposition politician to be detained by President Lungu’s administration in the last few months in what many observers believe is a growing intolerance by the Lungu administration in the build up to the August elections.

UPND Vice President Geoffrey Mwamba spent a weekend in police cells at Woodlands and Central Police Stations accused of illegal drilling.

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

102 COMMENTS

    • Lungu should be careful with the pipo he has chosen to surround himself with.He is making heroes out of assh0les.He may not realise the damage done by this case.Firstly it wont go anywhere and by the time we realise it DF will be the winners in this whole matter.When you read between the lines police may just be trying to stop Chanda from campaigning like they did to GBM.But the damage done is bigger than the benefit.DF,FDD may look like small parties but imagine the 2 combining with UPND.That will be the end of Lungu as right even UPND appears formidable.

    • this is nonsense, let the man out of prison please. chi lungu if you consider such statements as insulting the president, then you dont deserve to lead our people. imwe kano lyonse balemitasha? mwaba shani kanshi imwe.

    • Ka li “T”… ka chagwa anso te?? Fi Lutuku efyo uka bewlelako iwe mambala te??
      Tu ka kumona pa 11/8/2016!!

      I thank you!!

    • The person who wrote a book saying the UK` David Cameron has sex with a dead pig is still moving freely, Freedom of speech, Alugu anabwela must go, The guy is a dictator, No wonder he was voted by the raising of hands. Free this man Chanda he has done nothing wrong.

    • It just shows that even Lungu himself does not read. Maybe a researcher realised that the May 2015 article could be libelous. However, these PFools do not appreciate how insecure they make themselves to look. People are being arrested for jokes and aggressive figures of speech.
      #ChagwaMustFall

    • @Snake Bite: your enfiriority complex should end, whatever Britain does dosn’t mean it is the correct way of doing things…. its time Britain should learn from Zambia that if there leader is insulted they should arrest whoever does that. We are tired of learning from britan

    • THIS INFERIORITY COMPLEX OF ZAMBIANS NEVER CEASES TO SHOCK ME. IN THE FIRST PLACE YOU DID NOT TELL US THE MATERIAL CONTENT OF THE BOOK FOR US TO KNOW THE CONTEXT OR IMPLICATION OF THAT SMALL PART YOU ALWAYS FANTASIZE WITH. TO YOU WHATEVER A WHITE PERSON DOES OR SAYS IS A STANDARD FOR THE WORLD. MIND YOU BRITAIN IS NOT ZAMBIA OR VICE VERSA. ZAMBIA HAS ITS OWN CULTURE AND TRADITIONS WHILE BRITAIN ALSO HAS ITS OWN LIFE-STYLE. YOU ARE THE PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT YOU CAN’T DO WITHOUT THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. YOU HAVE DEEP-ROOTED INFERIORITY COMPLEX.

  3. The issue will end up with the post. You will see that the author and the editor in chief of the post will be summoned soon. Mark my words!

    • Zambian police are investigating leaks of classified government information after the Post newspaper reported that Zambia had agreed to borrow $193 million from a Chinese weapons manufacturer.
      The privately owned Post newspaper on May 9 reported that President Edgar Lungu’s cabinet agreed to the loan from Chinese state-owned Poly Technologies Inc., citing a letter from Secretary to the Cabinet Roland Msiska to Fredson Yamba, the treasury secretary. The funds would pay for security equipment for police, the immigration department, prisons and the Drug Enforcement Commission, the Post said.

      “The investigations we’ve commenced are over leakages of classified documents,” Charity Munganga Chanda, a police spokeswoman, said by mobile phone Monday. She wouldn’t give further details…

  4. Respect the President of the Republic. You can insult small FO0LS like Hakainde but not president Lungu. Serves you right. Look at how quiet and well behaved GBM is now, like a school boy. Kudos!

    • @ Kudos, what did Churchill achieve before he become Prime Minister of the UK? Compare that with what your drunk from Chawama achieved…. show me Lungu’s CV?

    • Obama was a drunk, go look at his CV before he become a president. No achieved lawyer comes from a compound drinking chibuku and kachasu…. and you wonder why he has not clue and resonates with violent thugs

    • Did Mwanawasa ever arrest Sata when he would tear a cabbage and mock the head of state saying this is your president?

    • “…growing intolerance by the Lungu administration…”
      INTOLERANCE? GUYS, MULEBAKO SERIOUS. GBM SAID HE WILL GO FOR ECL’s NECK. AND HERE WE GO, AGAIN, THIS ERIC CHANDA IS CLAIMING ECL WENT TO MFWE TO PLAY POOL AND CLUBBING. MOST OF THE BLOGGERS ON LT (OR OTHERS) LIVE OVERSEAS. TRY AND GO TO THE MEDIA OR JUST IN A PUB AND ANNOUNCE THAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO GO FOR OBAMA OR DAVID CAMERON’S NECK AND SEE HOW DEMOCRACY DEALS WITH YOU IN THOSE HIGHLY DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES. YOU KEEP ON CHEATING ZAMBIANS WHO HAVE NEVER HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES THAT THERE YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING. THREATENING TO MURDER SOMEONE IS A SERIOUS CRIME EVEN IN HEAVEN. JAIL THEM.

    • DEFAMING A PRESIDENT WHO IS WORKING HARD TO END TERRORISM AND OTHER VICES WHICH CONCERN NOT ONLY AMERICA AND EUROPE BUT THE GLOBE IS ANOTHER OFFENSE. DON’T BE CHEATED OR TELL LIES THAT THE OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE A MAGIC WAND WHICH THEY WILL COME AND SWING IF ELECTED TO POWER TO SOLVE ALL ZAMBIA’S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS. THE COUNTRY’S SOLUTIONS IS ROLLING OUT STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE IN ALL CORNERS OF ZAMBIA, WITHOUT WHICH ECONOMIC PROSPERITY AND DEVELOPMENT IS BUT JUST A PIPE DREAM. ECL AND PF HAVE LITTLE OR NOTHING TO DO WITH PROBLEMS ZAMBIA IS FACING. THEY ARE CUMULATIVELY DUE TO HISTORICAL NEGLIGENCY BY PAST GOVERNMENTS.

    • KUDOS, I LOVE THAT. BY THE WAY DO THESE CHAPS DRINK WITH ECL IN ORDER TO KNOW THAT HE IS A DRUNK? DESPITE THE CLAIMS THAT ECL IS A DRUNK PEOPLE STILL VOTED FOR HIM AND LEFT TITO-TALLER, HH. PEOPLE WOULD DEFINITELY VOTE FOR A SOCIALITE THAN A PERPETUALLY HATEFUL AND BITTER PERSON.

  5. Mr Eric Chanda and many others who are abusing their rights must learn the hard way. A president of any country is well respected whether you are opposition or not. Soon, the government may change and the law and the police will not change. Be it HH or ECL who will win, we need to respect them. Politics of insults and demeaning the head of state must be condemned by all Zambians regardless of our political inclination. Campaign is supposed to be issue based in winning the electorates not personal attack on the president as we are seeing now.

    • I think its about time the laws changed especially the Defamation of the President one. Its archaic and needs to be repealed.

    • Ba senior citizen,we are all in Botswana.How many times has Boko Duma insulted H.E Khama?Has he ever been arrested.Look at South Africa,Zuma is made fun of by Malema.Has anyone been srrested.
      Freedom of speech!

    • I totally agree.
      A head of state deserves respect.
      BUT where is the insult??? I don’t see it at all in what was said!!!

      Ultimately respect is earned and not enforced!
      And this is the quickest way to loose whatever respect is there.

  7. What is insulting in saying someone has gone clubbing or to play pool. After all Amos Chanda released photos to the nation of Kadansa playing pool while the kwacha was tanking.
    This is just a pep to what they intend to do. Very soon it will be wholesale arrests of every person they deem to be in their way to keep state house. Let’s be warned & move to stop this before its to late.

    • Come to think of it. GBM is so quiet just heard he is provoking jerabos, who have in turn promised him a tough time.We need respect next will be Kabimba.We have started with the small fish. Watch out.

  9. You don’t force respect! Respect is earned! Don’t think a drunk who would sleep in pubs deserve respect! NOT at ALL

    • My concern exactly!! He made the remarks 10 months ago and it has only been deemed insulting today!!! What kind of police force is this? All this time, it was fine until somebody realised DF is making inroads into PF in its strongholds so they start pursuing them as well.

      Why wasn’t the Defamation of the President act repealed in the new Constitution? These are old and archaic laws that don’t have a place in modern day politics. It is such Acts that LAZ, NGOCC, and all citizens should be fighting against.

    • IMAGINE? WE ARE LIVING LIKE THEY DID IN THE TIMES OF HITLER. THE GESTAPO AND THE SS WERE ON A WITCH HUNT, IF YOU DID NOT SUPPORT HITLER, THEN YOU WERE HIS ENEMY. THE OPPOSITION IS BEING TARGETED HERE IN ZAMBIA.

    • #Kubweka, that’s why PF stands for Party for Fascists. Don’t you see something Nazi-like with the Punching Fist?
      #ChagwaMustFall

  12. People in the United Kingdom including those who have died who committed offences many years ago are being investigated and some have been prosecuted

    • So in other words you are saying that if it is ok in U. K. it should be alright here as well? I know Zambia has been independant for 51 years and you are trying to colonise us again? U.K has it s rules and we have ours here too.

  13. Again, this is where PF is getting it wrong, there is nothing defamatory about Eric Chanda’s words. All the top Police Officers must be fired once UPND comes into power, they have no respect for professionalism and they have demonstrated to all Zambians that they will do whatever those in power ask for – Yes Bwana. This is irresponsible and so backward. Stand your ground, step aside, be ethical and professional. I have always said that there is no Police in Zambia – these who wear uniforms are party cadres. They dont fight crime, people are beaten and killed nearly every week. Those of you who end up closer to power, remove all the senior police people – REFORM OF PUBLIC SERVICE – ESP POLICE, HEALTH WORKERS AND TEACHERS IS A MUST

    • It should be LUNGU that is arrested and jailed for bringing the Office of the President into disrepute!

      His incompetence and idiocy has made it a joke!

      Dull drunkard!

  15. The chaps in opposition can support anything as long as it’s coming from bad eggs. What’s wrong in throwing this imbicile in prison when he is on the wrong side of the law?
    After all there is a famous saying that “umulandu taubola”.

  17. While I condemn this belated arrest and view a political hand in it, I still would wish to stress that the end of one person’s right is where the right of the other person starts. Lets learn the parametres of our rights, up to and including, where one should not go beyond, to avoid disperaging others.

  18. Zambia seriously sits on the edges of being a Banana Republic. A president is a public figure who by offering himself as a servant to the citizens of Zambia is subject to scrutiny & criticism by the same citizens he/she leads. The president is not a “holy cow” who thinks he/she is a “small god” that cannot be pointed at or questioned. Zambia please take a leaf from progressive countries that hold the their president to account robustly. SA is just a stone throw away, learn how the president is held to account. Being president is not about being praised but being a servant of the people & answerable to them at whatever cost!! Expect ridicule, harsh words even insults, it comes with the territory. This job is not about people dancing for you at the airports each time you make a trip.

  20. Firstly I don’t note any insult in the words. Secondly he may have played pool and the trip may have been at tax payers expense. Thirdly, why now? Fourthly, defamation needs to have been communicated to someone or the wider public, which I take this statement was produced in the POST paper. But I didn’t even know this statement was made until now and I guess it goes for a lot of people. If this, therefore had been a real insult, Lungu would only have been feeling it now, when some of us are only reading it! Delayed insult is it? Was it still on the way?

  23. This Government of Ba Edgar, is just arresting Bembas.Is that us Bembas we are the weakest link?
    I would like to urge my fellow Bembas to wake up and say no to persecution by Edgar Lungu.
    I know the Bembas have been used and absed by this government to protect their interest. We all blame ba Chikwanda for failure to defend his tribesmen.

    • Do you honestly think RB is supporting Lungu for the benefit of the original and true Bemba PF?

      The East has overtaken PF to exact revenge on the Northern tribe for persecuting RB. It’s a Trojan attack.

  24. The president’s brain works phlegmatically like ifimina dripping out of the nose. It happened in May 2015! But it was only registered in the beer clogged mind ten months later! Zambia’s development will take at least forever to get somewhere at this rate.

  27. Offence committed in May 2015 and arrested on 21 May 2016, Komanso pa Zedi? Ameneyu timati fodya wamkulu Kapena Chamba cheni cheni, Kapenanso kuti kuzungulira mutu kaya kuti Misala.

  29. What’s defamatory with what Chanda said? Lungu is really a jock of a President! However he is slowly turning into a Tyrant!

  31. Thats crap. So it means this Lungu is a despot. Thats Donald Trump promised to ‘deal’ with African despots if elected into power.
    What these African dictators do not know is, they are of mortal bodies and they shall die one day. Arresting an individual becoz of such silly things, it really shows that the African dictators are not settled. They suffer from paranoid delusion.

  32. On a lighter but sombre note, my advice to Mr. Chanda is, hold tight onto the Cross, it could be your only protection. A clear reminder that indeed, Christ died to redeem the Human race. As it was then, so it is today!

    • Why not bembas naimwe with you misplaced sense of superiority! So u would be much happier if he was targeting other tribes? Smh. The irony though is that he knows that you will still vote for him no matter how many of you are thrown in the cells because your hatred for a tonga president is greater than your fear of prison. Talk of being caught up between a rock and a hard place

  36. It’s timely, sends a strong message to all stupidit.y so that we have some decency as we approach the elections, there is just too much nonsense. And it works, look at GBM, he is now campaigning decently but it had to take a few nights behind bars for him to see sense. When GBM wants to use kaponya language now, he does so with fellow jerabos. Do you see HH using defamatory words, NO, he is fully aware of what can happen to him, cowardice serves him well.
    You see, if you defame or insult the President, you are insulting the majority that voted for him, you are insulting us the people for that is what the institution of President is. It is an institution not an individual. For me I voted Edgar together with the majority who voted. So for me and those, sorry Eric Chanda, you have insulted…

  37. You see, if you defame or insult the President, you are insulting the majority that voted for him, you are insulting us the people for that is what the institution of President is. It is an institution not an individual. For me I voted Edgar together with the majority who voted. So for me and those, sorry Eric Chanda, you have insulted us and you deserve a few nights in cells, and maybe six months jail if the Judge says so. That IS THE law at the moment, and you can rest assured that HH would carry it forward Ifffffy he became president of Zambia.

    • You don’t die if you’re insulted. As a president you ought to tolerate your citizens. You must know that you are ruling over Chainama hospital Unza the wise the fools etc. You can’t have the police focusing on shutting up fools when there’s criminals to arrest and so much other work to do

  38. If you are UPND and want to tolerate insults of your president you must wait for HH to become President then you can insult him. For us our President we need to protect him from scoundrels. So wait for HH 2021, it’s a bit of a wait but you will have to patient otherwise we will lock you up, all of you uncouth mouth smelling cadres.

  39. Oh by the way, has Mmembe offered to join Chanda’s legal team? If he does watch him, the man is next to broke, he just wants to slap a huge legal bill on these gullible victims.

  40. Defamation? An arrestable offence? In a democracy? And there are lawyers in this country? And they have allowed such a stewpid law to exist?

  41. Like I have stated above, you can abolish the law in 2026 when HH becomes president, I.e. If he will accept to be insulted that dictator wamuyaya of UPND.
    For now IT IS THE LAW, PERIOD.

  44. And while you at it, tell HH to mind his sources of information, stealing confidential government documents is a serious offence. He should not copy Mmembe who has nothing to lose. But for HH he has everything to lose and Mmembe will probably encourage HH so that he gets locked up and Mmembe can impose a leader on UPND. Far fetched? Well let HH try and Mmembe will teach the underfive some mature politics and stage a coup de tat in UPND, try it and see if I am wrong.

  45. Some of such arrests should be avoided at all costs. Chanda is not going to be easily broken; he’s going come out of the cooler a wounded buffalo!

  46. @ In support of PF
    Quiet, don’t compare your PF freedom of expression with UK. We are civilised here than your repressive regime. Hear the lecture Guy Scott has delivered to Edgar Lungu. That tells you how low and repressive PF leadership has become. Hope will not be arrested for this.

  47. The politics that Eric practices are shallow and can’t even pass the test in Europe or USA. He would be taken to court and declared bankrupt for defamation of character.

  48. Hello Zambians! You’ve a mad leader.., arrest me too!! Maybe Chanda is now Tonga too. Poor brother.., am behind you and can actually vote for you! Green Revolution.., at least you had a policy stand. But the guy at plot now, had NO idea! And rightly so, he did go to waste hard earned taxpayers monies as always on kachasu!

  49. in bemba we say, UMULANDU TAUBOLA…….wat u say today will surely pay later…..let him be questioned and am sure he has even forgoten wat made him to say that……..anyhow its ECL all the wa to 2021…

  52. Where does ECL fit in this story. Erick Chanda was arrested by the police (Zambia Police) not Lungu. Can journalist exhibit an iota of professionalism please. Even characters who are condemning ECL must think before they yap. Zambians

    • Is this a joke. You think the police would look at a one year old newspaper article and then say hey look in May last year this guy insulted the president. Are you for real.

  53. Even if someone says the president went drinking. Is that a reason to throw him in jail. Sometimes its so embarrassing being an African, a Zambian. Its like we are from the stone ages. Brainless cadres will say he insulted the president as if he is a god. The man is human and shouldn’t be worshiped. He is our worker and if he goes chilling at a lodge using our money we have to complain. How do we employ someone then he becomes our boss, its ridiculous.

  54. This Eric guy is fond of using demeaning words, even though he did not insult as such it is the demeaning way in which he said it that is a problem here! Cosmo Mumba reported him so after being questioned by police they found some defamatory remarks in his statement that is why he was arrested. Do not just condemn the president without finding out the gist of the story.

    • @Anonymous you seem to very bitter why always insulting naiwe! Dont think using your balls to think use you brain Id1ot.

  56. @Nellie,
    Do you really expect @wise head to know what an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitor does? I doubt but I agree he needs that to protect him from malignant HT.

  57. That office pa plot 1 commands some respect regardless of who occupies it. We insult it secretly and that way it seems normal but if some goons go overboard to insult it in plain sight, you get yourself busted sucker. Yeah, kapaso, incasarate the goon, he has insulted the “King” in public. He has defiled procedure and protocol.

  58. What intolerance are you talking about ? This ka Chanda chap should have respect for the head of state.Who in Zambia today can vote for Chanda or Kilometer ? They are just wasting their time.Let him learn a lesson in prison and release him in September 2016.

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