Witnesses clear Mumbi Phiri

By NATION REPORTER

ALL the witnesses in the Mumbi Phiri and Shebby Chilekwa murder case yesterday testified before the Mongu High Court that the former deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Front (PF) was not anywhere near the crime scene at which slain UPND cadre Lawrence Banda is believed to have been shot.

And the Mongu High Court heard yesterday that the only gun that was found at the crime scene was that which belonged to Lawrence Banda, the slain UPND cadre.

All the witnesses congruently testified that Ms Phiri was in fact at church together with the then UPND candidate Tauni Chiseke and Anna Ngombo, the then PF candidate in the Kaoma by-election from which Banda is said to have been shot and killed.

The witnesses told the Mongu High Court that Ms Phiri was among the congregants that attended church service at the Mahiro Evangelical Church in Zambia in Kaoma.

Elder in the Evangelical Church Steward Andala Mupwako told the court that Ms Phiri was among the visitors the Church received between 10 hours and 13 hours at church on the October 6, 2019, the day of the shooting.

Mr Andala Mupwako, 56 testified that among those that attended church was Anna Ngombo, the PF candidate in that by-election, Tauni Chiseke, Mumbi Phiri, Godwin Putu, Emmelda Mwaando and Mulyata.

“And later the pastor moved to where the secretary was (church secretary) that the visitors should introduce themselves. Due to the interest of time, the senior female official was allowed to speak. Mumbi Phiri stood up and said she was deputy secretary general of the PF. She said she was representing Ann ngombo for her election,” Mr Mupwako testified.

Meanwhile, the candidate in that by-election Anna Ngombo said she was with Phiri at her lodge before they left for church around 10 hours.

She said three vehicles were used to carry the people to church and Phiri was in an executive vehicle as deputy party secretary general, while herself and other officials used two Toyota Land cruisers. Ms Ngombo 68, said there was no way Ms Phiri would be found at the shooting scene when she was with the rest of the team in church at the time the shooting of Banda took place.

“We used three vehicle and I was in the first vehicle with Mulyata, the district chairlady Emmeldah Mwambo and Anna. In the other vehicle that is where Mumbi Phiri was. The third vehicle was Tauni Chiseke together with Godwin Putu who was MP for Mangango. We arrived at the church my lord, met an usher from the entrance and we introduced ourselves to the usher. And the usher went inside and came out and allowed us to get inside. I and others occupied the front seat. In this team we had Mumbi Phiri, Tauni Chiseke, Putu, Mulyata, Emmaldah and Anna and myself,” she said.

Another witness who was at the scene of the shooting Mbololwa Nayoya, 61, said she was among those people who were attacked in Site and Service with an iron bar by the late Lawrence Banda a UPND cadre.