Sat, 05 Aug 2017 10:35:41 +0000
By ANDREW MUKOMA
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) in Southern Province and Livingstone in particular has disputed Justice Minister Given Lubinda’s recent statement that no innocent citizens have been arrested since the invocation of Article 31 by President Edgar Lungu.
UPND Livingstone spokesperson Neto Halwabala has accused the minister of misinforming the nation. According to Mr Halwabala, the police acting under the invocation ofAarticle 31 arrested 12 UPND cadres from Livingstone and moved them to Lusaka.
“Honourable Given Lubinda is misleading the world on his claims that no one has been arrested unlawfully from the time of threatened state of emergency was pronounced.
“It’s a pity that the minister of Justice is proving to be lying. Here in Livingstone, our youths were abducted by police three weeks ago and are being detained in Lusaka where not even family members are allowed to see them,” he said.
Mr Halwabala claimed that the police were denying UPND lawyers access to the detained cadres. “It is worrying to hear a minister start lying in an effort to mislead people that life is normal yet it’s a total lie,” he said.
He said that it was political deceit by Mr. Lubinda to want to subject citizens to untruthful information. “We challenge him to be honest and tell the truth than misleading the world.”
