I DIDN’T ABDUCT HATEMBOS, SAYS NAWAKWI

By NATION REPORTER 

EDITH Nawakwi has said the case of the Hatembos who were abducted by known people prior to the 2021 general elections would give her an opportunity to tell the nation what had exactly transpired at the time.

And Ms Nawakwi has claimed that her life is in danger, fearing that she could be poisoned and was not feeling safe to be attended by local hospitals because according to her, the institutions had become hostile.

Yesterday, Zambia Police formally charged and arrested Ms Nawakwi, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leader for the offence of abduction contrary to section 253 and 256 chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

But Ms Nawakwi is accusing President Hakainde Hichilema of orchestrating her arrest over the Hatembos in a bid to fix her for merely working to help them at the time they were under siege.

Ms Nawakwi said the Zambia Police had been under pressure to have her arrested especially that her lawyers had furnished the police officers with valid medical reports that she was not feeling well.

She said this was despite medical doctors having guided she not be distressed and refrain from strenuous activities because she was being treated awaiting a surgical procedure.

“The move to arrest me is clear that the police are under extreme pressure such that when the arresting officers were asked whether it was abnormal for a suspect to tender a medical report, they answered that in fact it was normal. So why is my case so strange that the officers cannot accept a medical report” Ms Nawakwi said.

Ms. Nawakwi said she was scheduled to travel to seek medical attention outside the country but that the State was determined to have her arraigned.

Shw explained that she was travelling because the hospitals in Zambia were very hostile as the police had fished her out from there a hospital bed at one point and her life was at risk, claiming that there was a possibility she could get poisoned.

She confirmed her arrest and alleged that the case she was charged with was a hatched up scheme by the UPND and their leader to try and was their dirt which they created during the run-up to the 2021 elections.

Mr Nawakwi claimed that President Hichilema knew that that if the fraud charge that Feluna Hatembo had complained against him of fraudulently purchasing farm number 1921 was preferred on him, he would not have run for the 2021 election.

Yesterday, Police deputy spokesperson Danny Mwale said Ms Nawakwi had been charged and arrested for abducting the Hatembos.

Mr Mwale said facts of the offence were that the suspect, while acting together with others unknown, was alleged to have forced Feluna Hatembo and Milton Hatembo into confinement against their will at different Lodges in Lusaka after deceiving them that she was going to help them, she asked them to travel to Lusaka from Choma. Mr Mwale said during the time of their confinement, the victims were not allowed to move, communicate with anyone and do anything without her authority.

He said the incident occurred between September 2020 and January 2021 in Lusaka.

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