PF faction Secretary General Raphael Nakacinda has lamented that Pambashe PF MP Ronald Chitotela and Nickson Chilangwa are being subjected to inhumane treatment while incarcerated at Mansa Correctional Facility.
Nakacinda says the two lawmakers are subjected to regular searches that require them to be stripped naked and are also forced to undergo some drills that are not expected of any adults.
Addressing the media, Wednesday, Nakacinda said the PF would ensure justice prevails in the case of Chitotela and Chilangwa to prevent unnecessary by-elections in Pambashe and Kawambwa constituencies.
“I am privileged to be in Mansa on behalf of the PF president Edgar Lungu and the entire leadership of the party, to come and visit our colleagues and comrades who are unfortunately out of the machinations and concocted charges by the UPND for which they were convicted and are in the facilities. We will leave no stone unturned to push and make sure that justice prevails by way of having their cases appealed so that justice prevails and prevent the UPND from causing an unnecessary expense for the taxpayer by creating unnecessary by-elections,” he said.
Nakacinda said President Hakainde Hichilema was not humiliated when he was detained as an opposition leader.
“The conditions under which our colleagues are being kept in prison is very saddening. To learn that they are being subjected to humiliating and inhumane treatment, having to be subjected to regular searches that require that they are stripped naked. They have to cause them to undergo some drills that are really not expected of any adults to go through. Yes, they may be in that facility but these are people that have served at the level of minister, council chairperson or mayor. It’s very unfortunate that such practices are being encouraged by this heartless dictator, Mr Hakainde Hichilema. He was never subjected to such inhumane treatment when he was in the correctional facility. That’s how come he found it prudent to even promote and acknowledge the good treatment that he received from now deputy commissioner of prisons and the commissioner of prisons. Their good and professional treatment of him and his colleagues is what earned them that promotion,” he said.
“He may be rewarding individuals but that just goes to speak of the professionalism that was exhibited at a time he was in prison. I don’t think Mr Hakainde Hichilema was stripped naked regularly. Not even once at the time he was in prison. But that’s what our colleagues who were ministers are being subjected to. If there’s any search they want to undertake, today there’s technology. You can get facilities. We go through airports across the globe, they don’t have to ask people to undress to search if you’re carrying anything that is prohibited. There are gadgets and they will search, rather than get somebody undressed and start asking them to bend around and all that nonsense. It should never be allowed in this generation. Mr Hakainde Hichilema should be ashamed of himself”.
On the other hand, Nakacinda said the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s decision to publish the 2026 electoral calendar only sets the country into a political mode.
“It’s really shocking. The level of desperation of Mr Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND, exhibited not only in the language but also the actions so far taken by the stooges of the UPND in the Electoral Commission of Zambia. We saw the electoral calendar that has been produced over a year, eight months before the period for which ECZ is expected to produce that timetable. By merely indicating the period in which nominations will be undertaken, payments undertaken, the voting day, counting, plus the announcement of the results and the period for which a petition [is] to be heard and the inauguration, that revelation sets the country into a political mode. It’s as good as announcing the campaign period for those elections. That’s how come Mr Hakainde Hichilema now is making pronouncements that his back is glued to the throne of presidency, no one will remove him and so on,” said Nakacinda.
“We want to urge the ECZ to stop undertaking actions that go to undermine the effort that is expected of those in government to meet the needs of Zambians and improve their welfare. We can’t be politicking through and through. That calendar and timetable suggests that there’s something sinister the ECZ is doing. The only confidence we have as PF is that Zambians have already resolved. It doesn’t matter what mechanisms and tricks the ECZ wants to play. The will of the Zambian people will prevail in 2026. It’s just unfortunate that Mr Hakainde Hichilema is too intoxicated with politics, and he’s been politicking since 2021 and now he wants to up the game even when there’s still a year and some months before it is expected of him to get into political mode. We just urge members of the PF across the country to get ready to serve the Zambian people”.
