I AM INNOCENT, YOU WON’T FIND ANYTHING ON ME EVEN WITH MICROSCOPES – TONSE PRESIDENT BRIAN MUNDUBILE.
Wednesday, 11 March 2026 (News Diggers)
TONSE Alliance president Brian Mundubile says the UPND government would have acted a long time ago if there had been any evidence of the theft allegations against him.
Mundubile adds that government can use microscopes, but it won’t find anything against him because he is innocent.
On Monday, Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa wondered why investigative agencies were not pursuing Mundubile after allegations of theft from Chishimba Kambwili.
In the audio Mweetwa was referring to, Kambwili was heard talking to a man he called Kashishi, alleging that he had all the evidence against Mundubile’s theft and that if he exposed him, no one would like it.
Kambwili added that Mundubile was a “thief” who used to give himself invoices without working.
Reacting to this in an interview, Tuesday, Mundubile said the UPND government’s fear of the unknown should not be a reason to persecute citizens.
“If at all they had any evidence against me, they would have acted a long time ago. Five years, I have been leader of the opposition, critical of the government. I speak against HH every day that I am featured, if there was anything against me, they would have acted, it’s been five years. So, I don’t want to give them a reason for their lawlessness and lack of respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law. Their fear of the unknown should not be the reason that they should go out and try to persecute citizens. So, comrade Mweetwa is not fit to be a minister, he is not fit to be a minister. It’s incompetence of the worst order and it’s total lawlessness. And in any case, the minister should be sent back to go and read the cabinet handbook so that he understands his role as a minister,” he said.
“So, clearly what we have is a group of failures charged with the responsibility to run government. A government of cowards, a government of individuals who can’t face criticism, who fear the unknown. It’s total incompetence and lawlessness of the highest order. There is nothing they will find, they can come with microscopes, telescopes, I
only be innocent, that’s all”.
Mundubile questioned whether Kambwili provided evidence for Mweetwa to instruct the police to arrest him.
“The same Mweetwa who is now calling for Honourable Mundubile’s arrest is the same Mweetwa who was talking about mingalato a few days [ago]. So, when we talk about political persecution, he is the first one to refute those claims but he is just confirming it before the Zambian people. The last time I checked, Mweetwa was the Minister of Information, so what right has he got to start instructing the police, to victimise the police into arresting innocent citizens? If Honourable [Chishimba] Kambwili made some allegations, did he provide any evidence to support those allegations for Mweetwa now to instruct the police to arrest Honourable Mundubile? So, when we talk about a failed state, when we talk about a police state, when we talk about a government with collapsed government institutions, a collapse in governance, this is exactly what we are talking about because now we have ministers traversing other ministries to go and give instructions to ministries they are not in charge of,” said Mundubile.
“Mweetwa is not in charge of home affairs and internal security the last time I checked, but he can leave his cabinet portfolio to go interfere with operations of another institution. In any case, this is not up to the ministers or indeed the President to give instructions, it’s law enforcement agencies who arrest citizens. The police will act professionally on evidence. If there is a reason to arrest the affected individual, they will do so without being told. So, what Mweetwa is doing is just a confirmation of what many citizens have feared”.
Meanwhile, commenting on the same matter, former home affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo said it was not in Mweetwa’s place to call for the arrest of Mundubile.
“It’s totally out of his place [to suggest Mundubile’s arrest] but that can only happen in a cabinet which is like an organised confusion, because what we’ve been seeing in this cabinet is organised confusion. That is out of his portfolio and indeed if what Honourable Kambwili was alleging had any elements of truth, he should have taken him to the law enforcement agencies and it was not going to be the minister to say ‘now you move because now we are scared of this man politically, move and arrest.’ So, it is out of his place. So, it goes back to the mingalatos he was saying, ‘no we are going to do mingalatos,’ but he should know that dribbling also has markers who can mark. Let him focus on campaigning for himself and his boss, just like we are all going to do,” he said.
“Like I said, he shouldn’t be over-excited with the two portfolios he is handling now. And most importantly, LEAs have procedures and five years down the line that’s when you can call them to start arresting a man who has been around all this time just because we are going into elections and he has declared intentions of participating in an election as a presidential candidate. It’s out of fear”.
Kampyongo urged Mweetwa to focus on campaigning for President Hakainde Hichilema, adding that he shouldn’t think he can abuse other politicians.
“We understand that our colleague, Honourable Cornelius Mweetwa, is now overwhelmed and he is now getting excited because just before the Parliament is dissolved and he becomes a former minister like me, he has got two portfolios. So now he is so excited and I think he is so scared that just in two months he will become a former minister. He wants to go into those mingalatos he has been saying, but we are ready for him not to dribble us this time. Even mingalato have defenders, so for him to start using and abusing Honourable Kambwili and Honourable Brian Mundubile in the manner that is suggestive, it won’t help him. Remember how he came to the public and said Kambwili was sent by him and a few others to go and make tribal remarks which then they followed and arrested him (Kambwili)? What sort of individuals are these who want to think they can abuse their fellow politicians?” wondered Kampyongo.
“It’s not long ago when he was confessing to the whole country that he was part of mingalato to set Kambwili to make public sentiments and accusations against the former head of state president Edgar Lungu, so let him not waste time, let him focus on campaigning because he is now going to join [former ministers]. I want to start orientating him on what it takes to become a former minister. I am ready to give him those free orientation tips”.