Rainbow Party president Wynter Kabimba says the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lillian Siyunyi entered a nolle prosequi in the treason case in order to shield the State’s crimes committed against UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.

He said if the DPP had not entered a nolle prosequi, Hichilema would have had the liberty to sue the state because his detention was unlawful “from the word go”.

“The case cant resurface, the only reason why they have entered a nolle is because if they don’t enter a nolle, the whole detention would have been an unlawful detention and HH would be at liberty to sue the state. There is no case in the history of Zambia where the state has entered a nolle and they have revived that case. Not in my over 30 years of my legal practice. So they are shielding themselves against the wrongs that they have committed against HH, the breaking of his house, the unlawful detention of the man when they knew from the word go that there was no case,” Kabimba said.

Kabimba said entering a nolle was abuse of the whole process and misuse of the purpose of a nolle Prosequi.

“I said it from the word go when HH was arrested that there is no treason offense that had been committed in this situation. The whole situation was political, the prosecution knew very well, and am sure even President Lungu knew very well that HH had not committed any acts of treason. And this is a problem when you have the DPP who is being controlled by the executive because am sure even when that docket landed on the DPP’s desk! If she was professional enough, if she had acted professionally she should have realized that there was no acts of treason that had been acted by HH and his group.So we in the Rainbow party have maintained the position that there was no acts of treason committed by HH,” Kabimba said.

“Even to enter a nolle is an abuse of the whole process of a nolle Prosequi. And it has been very common in all the governments for the executive in collaboration with the office of the DPP to abuse nolles. This is exactly what has happened now. They went and damaged the ‘poor’ guy’s house! They have kept him in detention for the last four months when they knew very well that there was no act of treason committed. It didn’t even have to take the Secretary General of the Commonwealth to intervene in this matter.”

Kabimba said it was because of the colonial hangover from the government leaders that credit had to be given to interventions by outsiders like the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland, when the local Catholic Bishops had already done the work.

“What is it that the Secretary General of the Commonwealth said to President Lungu which our Bishops didn’t say to him? This is the problem with Africa that we want to respect outsiders in resolving our problems instead of looking inwards. What was so special about the Secretary General of the Commonwealth? How is she more special than the group of Bishops that showed respect to the President by engaging him in this matter?” Kabimba asked.

“But because of this colonial hangover, you have to wait for somebody from outside so that you give credit to outsiders and not your own people in resolving problems. The church in Zambia has had impeccable credentials and intervening in political crisis. They did in 1991 when there was tension in this country. Why should President Lungu respect an outsider against his own people? A group of respectable and eminent men in our society in the name of catholic Bishops who showed respect to him by engaging him and say ‘can we get this matter resolved domestically’ it has to take Secretary General of the Commonwealth to do what they should have done a long time ago.

And Kabimba encouraged Hichilema to push for a better Zambia.

“So I hope that now that HH is out, he will continue the struggle for a better Zambia. You cant continue at this rate, no! So I hope he is going to get more encouragement from his suppers in the UPND and sympathizers from outside the UPND so that the struggle can continue until we get to live in a better society than this one which the PF is driving today.”