By NATION REPORTER
PLANS to arrest former Kabushi Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo are intended to block and incapacitate him from taking part in the upcoming Kabushi by-elections, acting Patriotic Front (PF) president Given Lubinda said.
Mr Lubinda said police were being abused and were acting under duress as some politicians were call
ing the shots.
Recently Copperbelt Province Minister Elisha Matambo during a press briefing instructed the police to expedite investigations in the murder of National Democratic Congress (NDC) member Obert Kasongo who died during the Roan constituency elections in 2019.
But Mr Lubinda said the matter had already been dealt with and a postmortem had been conducted which ruled out any foul play.
And Mr Lusambo says he is ready and believes he has not done anything wrong, otherwise he would have been arrested.
“I’m in Ndola right now and very available at the moment so if they have issues they know where I’m found,” he said.
And Mr Lubinda said it had come to their attention that the Police had been instructed by the UPND government to open a docket against Mr Lusambo and charge him with the murder of Mr Kasongo. This follows the press briefing that Copperbelt Minister, Elisha Matambo held last week where he instructed the police to arrest and detain Mr Lusambo for murder.
Mr Lubinda said the Copperbelt minister did not have authority to instigate officers to open a docket and moreover even the autopsy showed that Mr Kasongo died of other ailments and not as a result of being assaulted.
He said that if Mr Lusambo was guilty why they waited this long for them to effect an arrest rather than wait for this period.
“The autopsy was clear so why should this matter be an issue now when the results had been confirmed by medical personnel,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Lusambo, in an interview said he was a free man and that he was ready to face the police when they go for him.
He said he was at the moment in Ndola and that they were free to go there because as far as he was concerned his conscience was clear.
Mr Lusambo said that he was sure that the reason such machinations had been set in motion was because of the current situation in Kabushi.
He said that politics should be played on the ground and not trying to fix each other in the manner they were doing with him.
Mr Lusambo wondered why people were trying to frustrate him. He wondered if they were scared of him and they wanted to finish his political career.
He said that maybe they thought that he would compete in 2026 against President Hakainde Hichilema who he would easily defeat.
Meanwhile, Mr Lubinda said this act of desperation is solely meant to bar Mr Lusambo from participating in the forthcoming Kabushi by-election.
He said Mr Lusambo like any other citizen had the constitutional right to participate in the country’s electoral process and the PF will not allow the UPND government to abuse state authority and state institutions to disadvantage their political opponents with impunity.
“I call upon all members of the Patriotic Front and all Zambians to be vigilant and stop this government from its continued harassment and victimisation of those that oppose its misrule and its abuse of state institutions for political capital. I urge all our members across the country to stand firm and resist UPND’s dictatorial tendencies. If they are popular, why are they scared of Bowman?” he said.
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