WE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew LubushaWE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew LubushaWE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew LubushaWE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew LubushaWE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew Lubusha
By ADRIAN MWANZA
WE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew Lubusha has said.
However, the UPND says it cannot answer on behalf of the investigative wings that were raiding former ministers and senior PF officials.
UPND spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, has said that the investigative wings were doing their work without any interference hence it was difficult for him to speak on their behalf.
Mr Lubusha, who is a victim of the recent raids by a combined team of investigative wings, said that he was living in fear because they had continued to harass him and his family.
He said the UPND government was giving an impression that they were not conducting witch-hunts when in actual sense they were tormenting their perceived political opponents.
“I have told them that I have always been comfortable from the time I was in opposition and I used to drive cars straight from the show room even and people should not start suspecting what doesn’t exist,” Mr Lubusha said.
He wondered what had changed now for authorities to start harassing him over his acquisitions.
“Even late President Michael Sata in 2011 when campaigning in Eastern Province, he used my fleet of vehicles,” he said.
Mr Lubusha said that he was shocked that a group of officers from the investigative wings pounced on him just after making his maiden speech in parliament.
He said that the vindictiveness was too much and that he was even scared to talk about the abuse he had faced.
Mr Lubusha said that he was not a criminal and challenged the investigative wings to arrest him and take him to court if they felt he had committed offences.
“My only crime is that I support the PF and not because I stole or committed any crimes as purported by the investigative wings,” Mr Lubusha said.
He said the authoritarian approach had dragged the country back to colonial days where people’s rights were abused with impunity and without regard for human rights.
Former PF Secretary General Davis Mwila said recently that senior PF members were raided in a move aimed at silencing them.
Mr Mwila indicated that the move was aimed at weakening the party so that the UPND could not have a competitor in the 2026 election.
And Mr Mweetwa said that he was constrained to talk about the way the investigative wings were conducting their business because they were independent and there was no way the government could be defending the perceived persecutions.
“We are not aware that former ministers have had their houses searched and to be honest that is news to me,’’ he said.
Mr Mweetwa said the teams had reasons to take that route but was quick to state that there was no political interference from the government.
He said it was wrong to think that the UPND were the ones that were instigating the raids when they were not even part of the whole thing.
WE are living in fear because we are targets of a brutal crusade by the government aimed at fixing senior members of the Patriotic Front, Eastern Province chairperson Andrew Lubusha
