🇿🇲 BRIEFING | Mundubile Promises Freedom to Jailed PF Bigwigs After Govt Change
Brian Mundubile has escalated opposition criticism against the United Party for National Development government, declaring that jailed opposition figures such as Raphael Nakachinda, Bowman Lusambo, and others will only regain their freedom through a change of government.
Speaking Monday after what he described as a failed attempt to visit Nakachinda at a correctional facility, Mundubile said he and his legal team were allegedly denied access to their client despite waiting for more than an hour.
The opposition leader, who is also a practising lawyer, accused authorities of frustrating legal access to detained opposition figures, arguing that access to legal counsel is a constitutional right that should not depend on political considerations.
“It’s very, very sad indeed. We have been here for the past hour and a half and we have been giving one excuse after another,” Mundubile said, claiming officers at the facility insisted on obtaining clearance from senior authorities before allowing the meeting.
But it was his political conclusion that carried the sharpest implications.
“The freedom that you are looking for, the freedom for Nakachinda, for Lusambo, for Malanji, for Bowman and everybody else who is behind bars, will only come when government changes,” he stated.
The remarks reflect a growing opposition narrative that increasingly frames ongoing arrests, prosecutions, and incarcerations of former PF-linked figures as politically connected rather than purely legal processes.
Opposition leaders argue that the criminal justice system is being weaponised against rivals of the ruling party, while government maintains that law enforcement institutions are merely enforcing accountability regardless of political affiliation.
The issue remains politically sensitive because many of the individuals currently facing legal troubles are prominent figures from the former Patriotic Front administration, a government that itself faced criticism during its time in power over alleged political intolerance, abuse of state institutions, and shrinking democratic space.
That historical context continues to complicate the current debate.
For the opposition, the detentions are increasingly being used to reinforce broader claims about governance and democratic freedoms ahead of the August elections.
For the ruling party, however, backing away from high-profile prosecutions risks undermining its long-standing anti-corruption and accountability messaging that formed a major part of its rise to power in 2021.
The result is a political environment where courtrooms, correctional facilities, and legal processes are becoming deeply intertwined with campaign narratives as Zambia moves closer to one of its most polarised elections in recent years.
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu
Just pardoning your incarcerated friends. No clear roadmap for the country. Your whole agenda is to remove HH, not UPND, from power, and then? What a manifesto!
Reason enough not to win these elections.He knows very well that they were eating the Eurobond money…He survived on government contracts and tenders.