By SIMON MUNTEMBA
I AM fortunate to be alive today because if some concerned citizens did not swiftly open the gate by force for me to speed off, the people would have killed me, former Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo has said.
Mr Kampyongo who says he narrowly escaped lynching from suspected UPND cadres at Kamulanga Secondary School polling station during the Kabwata Parliamentary by-election on Thursday praised some Good Samaritan who swiftly opened the gate for him to drive out, before he was grievously harmed.
He explained in an interview that that as he was getting into his car, stones started flying and some cadres went to block the gate to ensure he did not drive away, and if the gate was not opened by some concerned citizens, he was going to be harmed.
He said the cadres threw stones which shattered his vehicles’s wind screen before locking the gate to block him from driving out.
“Immediately I got into my car, stones were thrown and shuttered the window. Quickly, the others rushed to close the gate but luckily, some concerned citizen forced it open and that is how I drove off. Otherwise, if they didn’t open the gate for me, it would have been something else today,” Mr Kampyongo said.
Mr Kampyongo narrated that he was almost killed by the cadres who around 20:45 hours did not only stone him but locked the gate to ensure he did not drive out.
He recalled that as an accredited official monitoring the by-election at Kamulanga polling station with Leader of the opposition in Parliament, Brian Mundubile, some unruly cadres deliberately alarmed the situation by claiming that he was an unaccredited official trying to manipulate results.
“We were accredited by ECZ to monitor the election. I was with Mr Brian Mundubile going round the polling stations and ended at Kamulanga School polling station. I managed to get inside the classes where counting was taking place while Mr Mundubile remained outside, and at this time the police also arrived and instructed that those that were not accredited and monitoring from the windows should leave the place.
“And as I was coming outside the classroom after finishing talking to our colleagues, I just overhead some chaps saying the police have arrived to pick up Kampyongo. I went where they were talking to the police officers and showed them my accreditation card, and the police told them that I was allowed inside as an accredited official,” he said.
Mr Kampyongo said despite the police officers telling them that he was an accredited official, the uncontrollable cadres started following him while hurling insults, as he walked towards the car park.
Mr Kampyongo said the matter was reported at Embassy Police and it was later referred to Chawama Police Station.
However, UPND Secretary-General Batuke Imenda in a statement said that for the first time in many years, the people had witnessed a by-election without intimidation of the opposition by the ruling party and the police.
