Press Statement for Immediate Release.
Contact : Charles Kakoma, UPND Spokesperson. Tel 0977780397.
Lusaka: 15th September 2020
RELEASE MUCHELEKA, NGWIRA & MUBANGA UNCONDITIONALLY
..trio committed no offense by demanding for an end to issuance of NRCs to underage children and foreigners
The United Party for National Development (UPND) demands for the immediate and unconditional release of party Deputy Secretary General for Politics, Patrick Mucheleka, National Youth Information and Publicity Secretary Samuel Ngwira and Lukashya Constituency Campaign Manager Elias Mubanga who now stand accused of an unbailable offense of aggravated robbery.
We are worried that the amount of desperation from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) might lead to chaos.
We find the grounds on which our officials have been arrested to be fake and unreasonable because the trio were merely trying to unearth and bring to light the continued issuance of National Registration Cards-NRCs-to foreigners and underage children.
We can’t have a country where the ruling elite are swift to unleash the Police on innocent citizens by slapping them with flimsy, trapped-up and politically motivated charges such as this one.
From the onset, we have observed that the PF, in its desperate attempts to cling to power, have resorted to desperate measures such as the issuance of NRCs to both underage and foreigners particularly those from our neighboring countries-a move we have strongly condemned as being a threat to the security of the nation.
We wonder what legacy President Edgar Lungu wants to leave behind because, undoubtedly, he will go down in the annuls of history as the most ruthless tyrant Zambia has ever had.
We wish to send a very strong warning to the PF and Edgar Lungu not to take the peace that Zambia, for granted especially as the country heads to the 2021 tripartite elections in few months time.
The PF, further need to be reminded that posterity would judge them harshly should we fail to exercise the utmost restraint and tolerance.
We therefore call for the expeditious release of the incarcerated leaders.
Issued by:
Charles Kakoma,
Party Spokesperson-UPND.
CIC PRESS TEAM