Lawyer who was arrested for stealing laptop during Kawambwa by election rants
By Celestine Mukandila
TARGETED FRIVOLOUS AND VEXATIOUS CLAIMS ENDS UP MISLEADING PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA TO THINK HIS PARTY IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR AND WINNING ELECTIONS.
We received actionable intelligence of there being illegal offensive weapons being kept at a named lodge in Room 1 which the UPND cadres called Emergency Room. The said room was occupied by a UPND Cadre they called Commander who up until recently I have come to learn was imported from Lusaka and from an area called Gabon in Garden Compound.
We first of all decided go and report to Chief Munkanta because he had intimated that he needed to ensure that the elections in his chiefdom must be free and fair and without any violence. The Chief agreeably indicated to us that he equally received those reports and was waiting to speak to the owner of the lodge because the said was his Young Brother.
The chief called two of his young brothers (One being the owner of the Lodge and the other being a UPND youth leader called Don).
He confronted the two and requested them to ensure that they are not involved in any illegal possession of such items. He said he had a duty to protect his family and therefore needed to ensure that he is certain that such items are not in the lodge.
The chief then called an Officer (from a named Security Wing) and told him to accompany his retainer, the owner of the lodge and the other young brother to go and search the lodge suspected rooms. We were advised go and witness the search .
The owner of the lodge called for the keys to the first room. The receptionist brought him the keys and opened the room. He then conducted a search with the chiefs retainer and even moved the beds. and there was nothing in the first room which apparently belonged to their young brother called Don. (This was done in the presence of Don).
He then called for the other room which was in fact the so called Emergency Room. The receptionist indicated that the keys were carried by the owner of the room. The retainer and the owner of the lodge requested the receptionist to called the room occupant, but within 4 minutes, the owner of the room appeared with a Black Toyota Mark X without a number place and he had covered his hands with a black jacket. He saw the presence of the chief’s retainer then he decided to go back to his car exclaiming that he had forgotten his keys and I could see him put back a gun into the Car.
He then came and opened his door and proceeded to seating on his bed and asked what the people standing outside his door wanted. The chief’s retainer responded by introducing the owner of the lodge and told him that they needed to search the room because there is a suspected allegation of their being offensive weapons in that room.
No one entered into that room to search that guy, we stood outside the room while the chief retainer spoke to him and the owner of the lodge spoke to him to inform him that they suspect that in that room there are offensive weapons. The guy sat on his bed and literally refused to be searched while pressing his phone. . I realized then that he may be mobilizing cadres then requested the MP and the Pastor that we needed to leave. That’s how we left for fear of being attacked.
When we went back to report to the chief of how we had moved, we found that guy at the palace. He had already lied to the chief that he was roughed up and forced to open the door and in the process he lost a bag and that there was money in that bag.
We confronted this guy’s lies at the Chiefs palace but he still went ahead and lied to the police that he lost his bag which had money in it. He never mentioned a laptop at the palace only to read that on social media.
The Police then decided to target only myself as Counsel, Mr. Peter Chanda and Honorable Chisenga as being suspects when in fact we never even entered any of those rooms.
Legal Logic would require that if the Police have to charge anyone for a suspected criminal offense that may have been committed in the process of the ordeal, they would have applied the provisions of Section 22 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia which provides for “Offences committed
by joint offenders in
prosecution of
common purpose”.
“22. When two or more persons form a common intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose in conjunction with one another, and in the prosecution of such purpose an offence is committed of such a nature that its commission was a probable consequence of the prosecution of such purpose, each of them is deemed to have committed the offence.”
Simply put; In this case everyone would have been jointly charged starting with the Chief, his retainer, the Officer who was present, Mr. Don, including the receptionist and ourselves. This would have been a proper case intended to achieve justice.
On the contrary, the State singled out persons who in fact would make good state witnesses because they did not participate in the actual physical search but merely witnessed it.
I think such is a pure targeted crime to intimidate every voice of reason that’s standing in for the defense and protection of the Republican Constitution.
I am not only Counsel but also a business Man and I can actually manage to spend the same K28 almost on a daily basis. There was an Honorable Member of Parliament who is equally of distinguished good financial standing in society. There was a President of a Political Party with capacity to run a political party in Zambia .
The State shamelessly crafted this plan just so as to isolate myself, President Peter Chanda and the Hon. MP from the totaling Centre for the Kawambwa by-election because they knew that we were the ones receiving the PVT from our monitors.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia only accredited five (5) persons from each political party to be present in the Elections Totaling Centre. NCP accredited persons included myself – Celestin Mukandila, Hon. Jean Chisenga, Hon. Given Lubinda, President Shawn Tembo, President Peter Chanda and the NPC Deputy Secretary General had a roving accreditation.
The detention of myself and Hon. Chisenga meant that two men down. President Shawn Tembo had earlier that day been attacked and brutally bruised by known UPND Cadres and had to be attended to by doctors. The same was the case with President Peter Chanda who was in fact cut with a knife by UPND cadres in my presence and had to be attended to by doctors. For Hon. Given Lubinda, while he started off to the nomination Centre, his vehicle was pursued by known UPND Cadres who had about four vehicles and he had to maneuver into safety. This meant that only those who attended the process did not have PVT results.
The State refused to Charge us that evening and opted to charge us the following day so that we wouldn’t attend to this sacred constitutional duty. It was amazing that they had to abuse the entire Provincial Police Commissioner Mr. Yuyi to descend and execute an illegal detention.
They may have succeeded to isolate us and give fake figures to ECZ and persons in the Totaling Centre but the people of Kawambwa actually won that election by over 7,000 votes. ️
That’s the reason why, No one celebrated the ECZ announcement of results in Kawambwa. The people know what transpired and that election monitors and observers including agents were violently chased from polling stations by UPND panga carrying cadres.
President Hakainde must know that people are resolved now more than ever as to who they want to vote out of power come 2026.
His people will continue to lie to him in the name of massaging his ego. But he must get this reality, that political power does not transcend people power.
The Zambian people have a final say. Democracy shall thrive. I am committed to see to it that we uphold Democracy and the Rule of Law in our country.
Mukandila, you claim to be a lawyer and went to search a room at a lodge without a search warrant? How could you not have committed a crime including alleged theft of property in that room? Your story is self admission of committing a crime my boy. Stop claiming that you are a lawyer of any repute or significance. Yes, just a party cadre.
When you live by lies, no one will believe you even when you are telling the truth. I can already sense lies here, especially S. Tembo’s stories. Please tell the truth always to be credible. Tembo should take Mwiinde to police and to court with evidence instead of crying for sympathy on social media. The President does not condone violence from any quarter and has pronounced himself to UPND members that if you commit crimes you are on your own. Stop lies and all leaders, especially church leaders, should stop sympathising and buying into lies.
I believe the account of events from this lawyer.
We are being ruled by conmen.
I pray the entire lot will be caged after 2026.
Vote wisely in 2026.
Tasila is the most wanted criminal according to the ACC and DEC
So who’s a conman you ma rubbish?
Vote wisely vote for HH7 in 2026/31
This story from this man is not adding up. This is pure lying – an imaginary made cooked-up story.
I am surprised that this so called lawyer Mukandila expected someone to be searched without a valid search warrant. This is against the rule of law. This lawyer and his team who wanted to illegally search a room of someone without a search warrant should be charged with a case of intruding into the privacy of a person. When a lawyer just uses brutal force to search a room of someone, then this lawyer acts like a puffed up cobra!!
I can’t understand why the chief got mired in this political firestorm. The chief has no authority to enforce the law. If there were offensive weapons at the lodge, it was the Police’s responsibility to resolve the matter. And the lawyer saw nothing wrong with going to search a private room without following legal procedure?
Exactly Ba JMC. So the in the first room was illegal in the absence of a search warrant, something this lawyer admits. And the claim of a lost laptop and money is valid.
PF has a habit of failing to follow the law, how do they expect us to respect them?
So the said “vexation” comes back to bite this lawyer. All parties that went into the private room without consent are criminally liable.
And people want to suggest others were keeping guns.
People from OP that are being cited here, need to know and operate within the law. Who is this man? This lawyer needs to out him to the authorities as he should have consulted his superiors prior to breaking the law.
Ba JMC,
When a police force is biased, and only persecuting opposition, this is what happens.
Non UPND citizens are being forced to take the law into their own hands. This used to happen a lot during PF regime, and it is continued during this new doom.
Let us condemn this behaviour by the police. Let us not create monsters out of our politicians by endorsing their illegal behaviour Just because you belong to their party, or you are same tribe as the leader. That is why I have a lot of respect for Sangwa and Sishuwa because they helped remove PF, and they will help remove this incompetent tribalist leader. Yes I campaigned for him, but I regret it now. I have contributed to the chaos he has brought, and I am truly sorry for that. He fooled me, too.
Vote wisely in 2026.
Ba Indigo, I agree with you regarding the partiality of our police service. Very little has changed from the PF days. They still consider themselves as subservient to the ruling party cadres, which is unfortunate. Somehow, they have not recovered from the abuse they suffered under PF to take up their rightful role as impartial law enforcers rather than acting like an extention of the ruling party.
However, it still doesnot justify a vigilante approach to law enforcement. I shudder to think of what would have happened if both sides were armed. Remember the Kaoma incident in which Joseph Banda(?) lost his life? It was reckless of the lawyer and the chief to take on such an assignment. In situations like this, you need cool heads.
As for HH, I also voted for him and so far I am happy with what he is doing. If we can lock up more of the thieves who stole/steal public funds, I will be very happy. As things stand, he has my vote in 2026. I know he cares very much about our country and he is a man if integrity. You are disappointed because you built your hopes too high, unrealistically high.
You’re bitterness hatred and sickness will soon kill you so that this country remains without imbwa like you
Vote wisely vote for HH7 in 2026/31
Can you summarise it.
Too long to read.
This man says he is lawyer. Yet he wants to engage in a debate here. Why? The issue is heading to court wherein he will defend himself and the court reporter will write an article to report what happened in Court.
Ba Ingido and your people….what kind of lawyers do you have?
How could a learned lawyer get involved in such an operation without making a report to the Police?
With due respect, someone including myself can hardly believe that this kind of a story is from a Lawyer. At times, it’s better to remain quiet instead of concocting stories all the time. Why don’t you emulate fellow Lawyers like Sangwa and others, have you heard them talking after the Con Court ruling? They have accepted the ruling and have put the issue behind them and are moving on. A Lawyer is a person held in very high esteem by the general populace, he is known as a learned person, Doctors both Medical and PhD holders fall into this category of learned persons. However, I am sorry to say that some of these learned men and women are not up to standard because what they say and do is below pa. An example is this very story and it cannot go without a challenge from people. Our learned colleague allowed himself to be misled by the Chief because as a Lawyer, he should have known that what was being suggested to him to do was wrong. But he sank so low and followed the Chief Retainer going to search someone’s room. What mandate has the Chief or his Retainer have to search one’s room or premises with or without a search warrant? The Chief Retainer is not trained in law, he knows nothing about it therefore he is not a law enforcing agent. He was very lucky the gentleman whose room he had gone to search was a disciplined guy, otherwise he was going to be harangued because what he did was pure trespass and intrusion.
From day one of campaigns, everything was quiet and peaceful, had the PF/Tonse not brought those confusions, the campaigns could have gone incident free. It therefore raises a lot of questions as to what could have prompted the opposition to suspect the ruling party of stock pilling assorted offensive weapons when the campaigns were going on peacefully. Then without involving the police but relying on their so called actionable intelligence, they decided to act impulsively taking the law into their own hands. What guarantee was there to find any weapons even if the second room was also checked? People should know that regardless of the source of that information, there is nothing true about it until after it’s verified. So even your actionable intelligence could not justify your action. Where did you suspect those weapons to be going to be used because Kawambwa was peaceful?
The other cardinal point is that people should know the difference between the weapons for security wings and ordinary or civilian party supporters. I can’t say much about security wings, they know better themselves how they move and work. As they do their daily duties, they carry weapons, those small and light ones, they move with them but those big and heavy, they keep them wherever they deem it fit to keep them. And when we say security wings, we include the intelligence wing, special duties. So just to conclude that whatever weapons you hear about or see belong to UPND party supporters could be terribly wrong. UPND knows that it’s in power and it’s still popular, therefore it has no reason to carry a cache of offensive weapons, absolutely no justification. Even in opposition days, HH and his team never carried any weapons wherever they went to campaign. But most other political players including PF/Tonse carry, keep weapons and also move with them. You saw what happened in Kaoma where a UPND supporter was shot at and killed in cold blood. We also knowwhat happened in Sesheke, a UPND meeting was disrupted by PF cadres using live bullets and people including HH scampered in all directions running for their dear lives. So PF/Tonse cannot cheat anyone that them don’t carry weapons or had no weapons in Kawambwa, no, actually they are the worst culprits because records are there to show from the time of their reign.
The other laughable matter is your unfounded claim that you were specifically targeted because you were involved in PVT. But how could you be targeted Sir, because the police had no knowledge of your involvement in PVT? They are also getting the news from you. So you selected yourselves and not the police. Their action to arrest or detain you was based on the offense you committed and nothing else. You are also aware that no one provoked you, you are actually the ones who provoked the situation. Had you not done what you did, no one could have arrested or touched you. Equally Mr. Tembo, had he not gone where he went, no one could have attacked him. But from nowhere, he decided to go somewhere, moving aimlessly like Eve in the Bible who eventually found herself standing before the forbidden tree. Then he comes back with a story that he has been attacked. What kind of a President who can’t sense danger? What kind of a president who moves without security, does he not know he is putting his life in big danger?
In conclusion, PF can cry victim but reality has caught up with them. They have now seen how elections are being won and lost. I am sure their memories are still fresh about what they used to do. During their time, elections were not being won by the voters but by the people who counted.
So I totally disagree with your headline saying that, TARGETED FRIVOLOUS AND VEXATIOUS CLAIMS ENDS UP MISLEADING PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA TO THINK HIS PARTY IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR AND WINNING ELECTIONS. I don’t think there is anything misleading to the president here, UPND is popular and is getting more popular, it deserves the win. If you are still living in denial, just wait for Pambashe and Petauke, muza ka believer. That’s how the Bulldozer was, but after Kabushi and Kwacha by elections, balitalala nomba. Unless a very serious miracle happens, chances of PF coming back to power are slowly fading away in the western horizon like the setting sun. Only God knows, UNIP and MMD had the same or more hopes but fyalishupa.
What’s wrong with this useless PF lawyer Chikandila? He calls himself a lawyer but was breaking the law! Conducting a search without a warrant is pure lawlessness but as PF, this doesn’t matter to him! Not amusing to normal people cos that how PF did things.
He even went on to report rumours of weapons to the chief instead of police or law enforcement agencies and he still thinks he is good lawyer.
As we already know, PF cadres like Chikandila thrive in anarchy with commanders like Kalimanshi enforcing the lawlessness.
But these fools did this nonsense at the wrong time when ND can’t tolerate their law breaking habits. They are on their own now and surely won’t escape the charge of aggravated robbery. They must face the law and possibly go to jail. Only then will they learn to obey the law. We cant have old, educated people including an MP behaving like yoyos. What kind of example are they setting for the kids?
Are you really a lawyer? Then you need to learn to spell properly. You are even writing Zero’s name as Shawn instead of Sean. In court that would mean you are referring to a different person altogether.
You lost me at “went to report to the chief”