THE OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) has accused the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) of being hell-bent on intimidating the opposition.

Leader of the opposition in Parliament Hon Brian Muntayalwa Mundubile said the arrest of former Home Affairs Minister Hon Stephen Kampyongo was premeditated adding that the treatment he was subjected to was unfair.

He described his arrest as an instruction “that was included on some list somewhere” as he accused the UPND of being hell-bent on intimidating political opponents.

“His arrest was premeditated as you know we have videos from round about three years back were people instructed to put Hon Kampyongo on the list of those who attacked the helicopter,” he said.

“It was an instruction that was included on some list somewhere. It was premeditated and the treatment that Hon Kampyongo received was very unfortunate because even as his coleagues we were unable to see him when he was at Chelstone Police.”

Hon Mundubile who is Mporokoso PF lawmaker said man-handling a former Government Minister in the night like a common criminal is very unfortunate and very sad.

“But like we have said before, this is expected because our friends are bent on intimidating the political opponents. In their own wisdom, they think by doing so the opposition will stop speaking,” he said.

“But that is totally wrong because we are elected by the Zambian people and we will continue to represent them in our capacity as members of Parliament and we will also continue existing as the opposition political party.”

Meanwhile, Hon Mundubile said what the focus should be by the UPND government is simply to deliver to the people on the promises.
He insinuated that the route taken by the New Dawn Administration is not in response to what the people expected.

The leader of the opposition in Parliament said this at Lusaka High Court earlier today as Nine (9) PF MPs whose nullified seats are on appeal awaited the Court’s order over their application following the Speaker’s ruling.

The Nine MPs are seeking an order quashing Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti’s ruling which stops them from attending Parliament business while the Constitutional Court is determining their appeal.

However, the State applied for an adjournment stating that they received the instructions late and they would like to sufficiently prepare to respond.

The matter will reconvene on Monday.

THE Lusaka Magistrate Court has acquitted Lusaka lawyer Mutemwa Mutemwa, his son, also a lawyer and a police officer Dennis Mano Kayombo who pleaded not guilty to charges of theft of US$800, 000 after the state decided to withdraw the matter from the court.

The withdrawal by the state angered the judge who warned the state to be serious with some of the matters they bring to the court, saying matters have to be fully investigated to avoid such withdrawals.

This is in a matter in which Lloyd Chinjenge, 42, a businessman of Lusaka applied for the matter to be dismissed stating that there are some ongoing transactions between him and the accused and also that he has a good relationship with the lawyer.

Mutemwa senior, his son Mutemwa Jnr and Kayombo appeared before resident magistrate Dominic Makalicha in a matter in which they were charged with two counts of theft.

However, after the court analyzed the submissions made by the complainant and the prosecutor and their reasons were given, it dismissed the matter.

“The state through the prosecutor are the ones who brought the accused to court and these are the same people who have suggested to offer no evidence against the accused, the court therein is kept with no option but to have the matter withdrawn because they have chosen to offer no evidence against the accused,” said Magistrate Makalicha.

He further said people should stop using the court as a “rubber stamp” having matters within the courts when in fact it’s the state that is not interested in prosecuting the matter.

In October, according to a Zambia Police statement,  a lawyer and a police officer were on the run after they allegedly stole US$800,000 during a search party at a suspect’s home. Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga, in a statement, named the fugitives as Mutemwa Mutemwa State Counsel (SC) of Mutemwa Legal Practitioners and Detective Chief Inspector Mano Kayombo of Lusaka Central Police Station.

According to the statement, Mr. Hamoonga said that the money is the property of Lloyd Chinjenge of House number 2415 Ibex Hill Lusaka. Mr Hamoonga said the incident occurred on 19th October, 2021 in Salama Park area, Lusaka, when police received information that Chinjenge was in possession of an undisclosed amount of money on his premises believed to have been unlawfully obtained.

He said a search party of officers, among them Detective Chief Inspector Kayombo was constituted to conduct searches on two premises belonging to Chinjenge in Salama Park and another in Ibex Hill.

Mr. Hamoonga said both searches were witnessed by Mutemwa Mutemwa Junior on behalf of Chinjenge.

“Not known to the rest of the search party, whilst the search was going on at the ibex hill premise, Mano and Mutemwa SC, who was instructed by Mutemwa Jnr to assist, went to the Salama Park residence and picked up two bags suspected to have contained the sought money from one of the motor vehicles belonging to Chinjenge on his instruction for safe custody. The incident was witnessed by an officer undercover who was left to keep vigil at the said residence.

“The following day, the 20th October 2021 Chinjenge reported to the police that the said lawyers stole the $800,000=00 which he had entrusted them to secure,” Mr Hamoonga said.

He said when police summoned Mutemwa Jnr and under warn and caution, he disclosed that Mutemwa SC and Mano got the money amounting to $400,000.00 and not $800,000. Mr. Hamoonga said Mutemwa has since been arrested for theft.

Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamabo II of the Soli-speaking people says she is pleased with the New Dawn government’s response towards her request for works on the Lwimba Katoba Road to be completed.

The traditional leader said it is important for the stretch of 27 kilometers of the road which has been in a deplorable state for ten years to be worked on because it is used by many farmers to transport their produce to markets.

She said the road becomes impassable during rainy season, a situation which has disadvantaged her subjects for many years as they have to use alternative longer routes to reach Chongwe’s central business district.

Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya said she is hopeful that government will improve road infrastructure in her chiefdom which will ease movement for her subjects.

She said this after inspecting some projects in Chongwe yesterday, in the company of Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Charles Milupi, and Chongwe Member of Parliament, Silvya Masebo.

The Chieftaines also expressed concern over inadequate water supply which has persisted in the area despite the completion of the Ntanisha water project.

“The people of Chongwe deserve proper supply of clean water. Only few areas have full water supply which should not be the case,” Chieftainess Nkomeshya said.

She called on Lusaka Water and Sanitation Company to come up with long-term solutions to address the challenge.

Meanwhile, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development, Charles Milupi assured the traditional leader that government will work on Lwimba-Katoba Road because it acknowledges the role it plays to ease movement of farmers.

“It is unfortunate that the road was not attended to for a long time despite it’s commercial relevance,”

“We will work on it and put up short term measures to help the people of Chongwe,” Mr Milupi said.

He further assured the Chieftainess that government will also work on two bridges on the road in Chalimbana and Lwimba wards.

Speaking in the sidelines, Chongwe Member of Parliament thanked Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister, Charles Milupi for responding to concerns raised by people in her constituency over poor road infrastructure.

Ms Masebo said the people of Chongwe have been marginalised for many years and are eager to see development under the new government.

She said the new dawn government is a listening government which will fulfil its promise to deliver the development which her constituency deserves.

Acting Kalumbila District Education Board Secretary, Levison Kafwimbi has praised government for its plans to recruit 30,000 teachers and abolish school fees next year.

Mr Kafwimbi says the teacher recruitment will help improve service delivery in the education sector.

He said most of the schools in the district are understaffed hence the recruitment will cushion the staffing levels.

“The national budget alluded to the recruitment of 30,000 teachers, this is a huge number that government will recruit. This recruitment means that all our schools will be well stocked, our secondary schools, they will have the correct people improving the quality in delivery of our education system in the district ultimately which will culminate to the province and the country as a whole,” he said.

Mr Kafwimbi also outlined the current poor teacher-pupil ratio in the district which he attributed to population influx caused by the mining firms.

“The population of our pupils around the district stands at 43,000 learners, we have such a huge number because of the huge mines that we have. The influx of people has impacted on our schools, the population has increased tremendously. The district has a total of 807 teachers manning our schools, so you begin to see the disparities or the lower numbers of teachers against the number of pupils that we have in our district,” he said.

He further thanked government for its plans to award schools with grants saying this will make school operations more efficient.

“We are moving from where we are to another level to ensure that we provide quality education and bring it closer to the people to benefit and appreciate what government is doing, especially when it made pronouncements towards the grant and that now in schools there will be no exam fees, no PTA fees and tuition fees. The grants will also make our schools more efficient in terms of operations because they will have all the resources that they need for them to operate,” he said.

Mr Kafwimbi also disclosed that the district is currently rolling out special education services.

Meanwhile, he said learners in the district are being imparted with different skills to help them progress in life.

“In our schools, we have not only taught academic education but also provided the vocation of career pathways where learners are able to learn different skills which will be able to help them as they progress in their lives. If the production unit (PU) is well handled by every head teacher, it will be able to sustain our schools and move in the right direction by providing nutrition to our learners,” he said.

And Meheba Boarding School Teacher in charge of the Livestock, Rons Musopa said the school aims at making production unit self-reliant.

“Our ambition is to do much better, we want to be self-reliant because PU is the only way that can help us save the little resources that we get from parents,” Mr Musopa said.

He added that the school grants from government will ensure a stable flow of income in schools.