Patriotic Front Member Chishimba Kambwili has condemned President Hakainde Hichilema for allowing the arrest of former PF deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri for the murder of Lawrence Banda.

Ms. Phiri has been formally jointly charged with former president Edgar Lungu’s barber Shebby Chilekwa for the murder of Lawrence Banda a United Party for National Development (UPND) member.

And Kambwili has charged that the UPND was living the trajectory of the PF government of arresting and detaining people without offences for the purpose of punishing them.

Mr. Kambwili who said Ms. Phiri was innocent, has alleged that the arrest of Ms. Phiri was politically motivated and that the government should desist from using the Police for retribution, revenge and settling of political scores.

“As commander in chief of all armed forces, how can President Hichilema allow the police to arrest and charge Mumbi Phiri when he himself said on record during the church service for the burial of Lawrence Banda that he was shot at in the eyes of many including Mumbi Phiri, which clearly states that she was innocent and did not pull the trigger, so why should he allow the police to arrest her?” he said.

Speaking at a press briefing, Mr. Kambwili has challenged the head of state to fire the Inspector General of Police and the investigating officers in the matter for incompetence.

Mr. Kambwili has charged that the Head of State promised the people of Zambia of respect for the rule of law but that he had taken to the trajectory of the previous governments where arrests were used to settle political scores.

“President HH is not walking his talk but is talking the talk, he promised the people of Zambia of the respect of the rule of law, he also promised of freedom of expression where people are free to criticize the government without fear, but this is not what he is doing let us stop the UPND from continuing on the trajectory of the previous governments route of using arrests to settle political scores, for retribution and also as a form of revenge,” he said.

Mr. Kambwili, who demanded for the release of Mumbi Phiri, said her release would serve as a litmus test for President Hichilema to show the people of Zambia that he means well.

“Am appealing to the international community, all non-governmental organizations and all well-meaning Zambians to condemn this act and release Mumbi Phiri, let this matter be devoid of politics be looked at as it is, this case will serve as a litmus test for HH to show the country that he means well. Why jointly charged her with Chilekwa when in fact she was not the one who pulled the trigger?” He added.

I am calling on President Hichilema to sit down with the police and release Mumbi Phiri who we all know was innocent I remember that President Hakainde Hichilema and I once condemned in its strongest terms the arrests made by the PF on innocent people for political retribution” he stated.

He indicated that the PF government had on various counts-imposed arrests on then opposition UPND members for political vengeance.

“I can cite examples on how the PF abused their power by using the police to arrest the opposition, which included the treason charge slapped on the head of state himself, Copperbelt Minister Elisha Matambo and Obvious Mwaletata who served for one year for the case of aggravated robbery and Garry Nkombo who was also another victim of political arrests, including himself who was slapped with 39 cases under one court and 11 cases in others courts for political reason” Kambwili said.

He added that he would formally write to the Head of State to remind him of the times when he was in the opposition and in alliance with Kambwili in which they agreed that once in office such arrests would be things of the past.

Yesterday, Mumbi Phiri appeared in Kaoma Magistrates where she faces charges with former President Edgar Lungu’s Barber Shebby Chilekwa for murder of Lawrence Banda.

Phiri arrived in court at 10:00 hours clad in a floral African print (chitenge) outfit, white jersey, blue head sock and a green mask looking calm and confident.

The two accused appeared before Kaoma Magistrate Besting Hamaseke for explanation of the charge.

Facts before the court were that on October 6th ,2019 Mumbi Phiri 52 of Waterfalls area in Chongwe, a housewife and Shebby Chilekwa 34, a businessman of Chilanga whilst acting together allegedly murdered Lawrence Banda in Kaoma District.

Magistrate Hamaseke told the accused persons that they had been charged according to section 200 of the Penal code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

Both Phiri and Chilekwa did agree before Magistrate Hamaseke that they understood the charge read before them.

Magistrate Hamaseke explained that the duo could not say anything because they were merely before his court for the explanation of the charge as the court awaits instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The two will appear in court on March 10,2022, for mention whilst they remain in custody.

“You have appeared before this court for an explanation of the charge so that you know the reason you are in custody because your matter can not be tried in this court. Your charge is according to section 200 of the Penal code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. I am waiting for instructions from the DPP whether or not I should release you,” Magistrate Hamaseke explained.

Phiri becomes the second accused person to be charged with the murder of Lawrence Banda, the first one being former President Edgar Lungu’s Barber Shebby Chilekwa.

Lawrence Banda, a UPND sympathizer was shot dead in Kaoma District in 2019 during the run-up to council chairperson by-elections.

President Hakainde Hichilema has expressed delight that young women are taking up military training along with their male counterparts as a way of achieving gender equality.

Speaking in Kabwe when he commissioned 313 officer cadets for regular and specialists where 89 females cadets passed out, President Hichilema said that such numbers are an indication that the country is on track to meet the regional and international protocols of gender equality.

President Hichilema who is also Commander In Chief of the Defence forces directed the Army Commander to consider more females in the next army recruitment.

‘It is impressing to see an increased number of female cadet officers as this is one way of achieving gender equality,” he said.

The President also called on the newly commissioned officers to maintain their creed and help the country in the reconstruction of bridges in all the 10 provinces.

“In the time of instability, you know what to do as per your training but Zambian expect you to protect the nation’s sovereignty,” he said.

He urged them to remain dedicated to duty by putting the interest of the nation first.

And Zambia Army Commander Lieutenant General Dennis Alibuzwi said the Zambia Army has participated in peace keeping missions both regionally and internationally and has managed to produce skilled uniformed officers.

‘Despite several challenges the Army has been facing, they managed to produce highly skilled men and women in uniform,” he stated.

Mwembeshi Resources Limited corporate affairs manager Oliver Shalala says people opposed to his company’s plan to start mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park must move on after the court decision to okay the project.

Mr. Shalala said that it was surprising that some non-governmental organizations, who are against mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park, have taken a militant stance on the matter.

He said instead of continuing to oppose mining in the Lower Zambezi, NGO’s must advocate for safe mining and good corporate social responsibility programmes from Mwembeshi Resources.

Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk on Friday, Mr. Shalala said Zambia needs more mining companies to meet targets of increased copper production in the next ten years.

He predicted that not even the Kafue National Park in districts like Mumbwa will be spared from mining owing to mining exploration that has already commenced.

“We need development in different sectors. The Government has set a target that in five years we should have 2, 000,000 metric of copper produced, in ten years 3,000,000. Right now we are pushing 860, 000 metric tonnes of copper mostly from FQM – the biggest producer, Mopani and the others but the numbers are not good so we cannot rump production from the current mines alone without opening new ones. I actually foresee a copper mine opening up in Kafue National Park because there has been exploration there and they actually found very good grades of copper so it is possible one day we will see a copper mine open in Mumbwa in the Kafue National Park,” Mr. Shalala said.

He said Mwembeshi Resources was committed to cooperate with stakeholders at mines in the Lower Zambezi.

“We are a growing company, we are a Zambian company and we avoid being arrogant about how we go about things. We want to have good will, we want to work with everyone. Actually we have an olive branch towards those who are opposed to the mine to have time to sit down with us because the problem has been with the militant approach where you say no mining. So when you go no mining in the Lower Zambezi and then the court decides to say no, mining goes on. What do you do?”

“You remain, the train leaves the station you remain behind, you can’t stop the train to jump on board and continue with the conversation but we still feel there is a need for a number of NGOs to be engaged with us to find out what are the plans? How are you going to design the mine? How can you mitigate this and that? What is the replenishing plan of the pits after you are done? Will there be investment in terms of game scouts to improve security in the game park and so on and so forth. That should have been more of the conversation now,” Mr. Shalala said.

Last year the PF Government approved the proposal for the Kangaluwi Open Pit Mining Project in Lower Zambezi National Park almost 20 years since an Australian-based company, Zambezi Resources Limited was granted an exploration license delayed by ZEMA’s initial rejection of the proposal, government overriding the agency and subsequent court cases which ended with the project still going ahead.

“We are a profit oriented entity and are not by nature going to improve the capacity of those who engage against us. So if we are sitting down with the local people and we are discussing corporate social responsibility programming we need people on the ground to also have the capacity to negotiate how they want things to be. Otherwise it will be top down from us going down; the NGOs should have been on the ground right now coming up with empowerment programmes, helping things to do with appraisals, research and planning so that they can affect the design and the implementation of the mine and even better also do monitoring and evaluation of how the mining goes as opposed to this militant stance,” Mr. Shalala added.

This week,the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) reaffirmed its position that there is no violation of any provisions of the constitution in the approval for mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park.

ZEMA submitted to the Constitutional Court that mining activities can sustainably be conducted in the Lower Zambezi National Park in line with conditions of approval as the anticipated risks can be sufficiently mitigated.

This is a matter in which environmentalist Robert Chimambo has petitioned the ConCourt to order Government to withdraw the approval for mining in the Lower Zambezi National Park by the developer, Mwembeshi Resources Limited, as it breaches the constitution.

Mr. Chimambo, who has cited the Attorney General and the ZEMA as respondents in the petition, wants the court to order them to withdraw the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) dated May 7, 2021 for being in violation of the constitution.

He seeks an order that freedom of environmental information is a constitutional right.

The petitioner claimed that ZEMA approved EIS for proposed large scale mining in the said area for Mwembeshi Resources Limited without public hearings being conducted.

But ZEMA has responded that approved EIS was approved by the Minister responsible for environmental protection under section 115 of the Environmental Management Act(EMA) and it issued decision letter ZEMA /INS/101/04/1 stipulating conditions of the said approval on February 3, 2014.

“The plans referred to under article 253(1)(i) are assessed by way of a strategic environmental assessment(SEA) in accordance with section 23 of the Act and the project was not SEA. The policies, plans or programmes under Article 255(I) are assessed by way of a SEA in accordance with section 23 of the Ac and the project was not a subject of a SEA,” it stated.