UPND President Hakainde Hichilema says he did nothing wrong on the Copperbelt for Police to summon him.
Police in Luanshya have summoned Mr Hichilema and Vice Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to appear for questioning tomorrow over a meeting the duo held with Mpongwe residents.
Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga confirmed that the callouts had been issued for Mr Hichilema and Mr Bwalya to appear before Luanshya Police.
The two UPND leaders were last week denied access to their party officials incarcerated at Kamfinsa State Prison despite going there during visiting hours.
“Yes, we have summoned the two to appear for questioning concerning the meeting they had in Mpongwe on Monday. They will appear at Luanshya Central Police on Wednesday at 14:00 hours,” said Mrs Katanga.
Police sources disclosed that Mpongwe district Commissioner Keith Maila formally lodged a complaint against Mr Hichilema and Mr Bwalya in Kitwe for allegedly inciting Mpongwe residents to rise against the government.
But Mr Hichilema laughed at the callouts and wondered when greeting party members became an offence.
He said President Lungu was looking for an opportunity to lock him up as that had always been his plan.
“If it is about the Kamfinsa visit, we notified the Prison authorities that we were going to see our detained officials, those that are wrongly detained by Lungu and on the way we were greeting people, that’s our right. We did not incite anybody. We started greeting people from Chibombo and did that all the way, so why would he say that we were inciting violence and talking nonsense he is talking about in Luanshya? He (Lungu) is a brutal dictator who has now shown his true colours, because I did nothing wrong for him to instruct his police to summon me, he wants me arrested for no reason,” Mr Hichilema charged.
“He denied us our right to visitation of those that are wrongly detained by him. But we will continue demanding for their release. It’s him who is stroking violence, inciting citizens to rise because of his brutality. What is wrong with stopping at a market to buy vegetables and greet people? What’s wrong with that? His ministers do that every day, why can’t we do that ourselves? He is not the Constitution, the Constitution is above him! The point is that we are not inciting anybody, he is the one who is doing that.” Mr Hichilema charged.
He said PF President Edgar Lungu should be ashamed for stopping his entourage from visiting party members who were incarcerated for defending the Constitution.
“Why would he take our rights to visit detainees? Even detainees have the right to be visited. There is nothing that we did wrong, absolutely nothing wrong. This is what he has been planning, he has been planning to lock us up so that he can install someone in the UPND leadership the way he did to the MMD by putting Mutati there. That’s what he is trying to do but that scheme will not work. UPND is a strong party, it’s a party that won the election,” said Mr Hichilema.