Police in Luanshya have detained Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili after charging him with unlawful assembly.

This is in relation to the alleged illegal meeting which he held with aggrieved AVIC employees who marched to his house in Luanshya to complain about their conditions of service.

On Wednesday, Kambwili’s lawyers wrote to Luanshya police asking them to defer their clients appearance to December 10, saying the NDC consultant had a matter to attend to before the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

But Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga insisted that Kambwili presents himself on Thursday warning that staying away would be at his own peril.

Instead of presenting himself to Luanshya police, however, Kambwili decided to go to Police Force Headquarters, Thursday, to launch a complaint against Katanga, saying she was being unreasonable.

Before he could lodge his complaint, however, Deputy Inspector General of Police Eugene Sibote ordered his officers to arrest Kambwili and ferry him to Luanshya.

Sibote told journalists at a media briefing later that, “I wish to inform you and through you, of course the nation that the Police in Luanshya issued a police callout for Honourable Chishimba Kambwili to appear today and himself decided to come to Police Headquarters trying to seek refuge or for whatever reasons known best to him. Now what I wish to state is that if any person commits a crime and avails himself or herself to the police other than where he or she is required to appear, such a person can be apprehended by Police and conveyed to the Police Station where he or she is required or alleged to have committed the crime, so that they can answer to the allegations against them. To this effect I want to confirm that we have apprehended and conveyed Honourable Chishimba Kambwili to Luanshya Police Station where he has been asked to go and answer to certain charges by Police on the Copperbelt.”

He said police officers were duty bound to apprehend suspects, no matter the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed.

“You must all understand that this is done on the fact that the Zambia Police is one. When a person commits or is alleged to have committed an offence, in any part of Zambia, all Police officers are duty bound. They are obliged to ensure that such a person if seen is apprehended and taken to where he is alleged to have committed an offence. This is because of the issues of jurisdiction. If a person commits an offence in area ‘A’ and we find him in area ‘Z’, we shall convey him to area A where he is alleged to have committed an offence…I just saw him come in and then he told me that he was supposed to be in Luanshya but I’m not going there. Now what do you expect me as a police officer to do? I will convey him to where he is supposed to be,” said Sibote.

Kambwili arrived at Luanshya police at 14:06 hours where he was immediately taken to the reception to wait for his lawyers.

Later, Kambwili demanded to get his medication.

Meanwhile, his son Mwamba and NDC Secretary General Mwenye Musenge were blocked from entering the police station.

By press time, police had charged the NDC leader with unlawful assembly and denied him bond.

Meanwhile, UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema demanded Kambwili’s release in a statement.

“We call for the immediate release of the NDC consultant Dr. Chishimba Kambwili from police custody. As a country, we do not need to treat each other like this especially in the midst of the dialogue process in the country. As far as we are concerned, Dr. Kambwili did not refuse to answer the police callout in Luanshya. All he did was to merely request for a date next week so he could attend to court matters in Lusaka tomorrow. There was no need to bundle him like an armed bandit this morning and drive him to Luanshya police,” stated Hichilema.