UPND chairman for elections Garry Nkombo has apologized to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) over the attack on one of their officers by some party members in Katuba last week.

Nkombo told News Diggers! in an interview that the incident was regrettable.

“It’s extremely regrettable that that happened. It should never have happened in the first place. And people require to exercise restrain from the political parties because, don’t forget, the gentleman from Human Rights Commission may have just found himself in the cross-fire where a PF person riding a motorbike plunged into the crowd. And obviously, it is a public event that was given but this fellow on a motorbike came and hit an old woman. And so our people became excited and what happened, happened. But it is very regrettable incident that should not have happened in the first place,” Nkombo said.

“And the gentleman from the Human Rights Commission did speak with me soon after the incident. We had a discussion and I tendered my apology to him. And unfortunately, in the fracas, I think he lost a gadget and K200 which I personally offered to replace because of how remorseful I was regarding the same issue. Notwithstanding that, my thinking is that at the time that he was witnessing whatever he witnessed, he found himself in the cross-fire. So it is only befitting that we give an unreserved apology to him individually and also to the Human Rights Commission collectively because it was never anyone’s intention for things to turn out the way they did.”

And Nkombo appealed to civil society organizations and NGOs that were observing elections in Katuba to exercise caution and avoid finding themselves in such situations.

“And going forward, it would always just be prudent that even as NGOs and people who are observing [elections] are doing their work, they should exercise some form of judgment so that they do not find themselves in that situation. But the point is that on behalf of the party, Mr Chisenga who I spoke with was obviously offended by the acts of the members who were there. And for that reason, he deserves an unreserved apology,” said Nkombo.