Northern Province UPND chairman Nathan Ilunga says six PF members were shot in Mpulungu because they went to tease their colleagues in the UPND camp who were grieving the loss of an election.

On Saturday, Northern Province Police commissioner Richard Mweene stated four UPND cadres had been arrested in connection with the shooting of six PF cadres who were left injured.

The incident happened on December 5, 2019, around 20:00 hours and that police recovered a homemade short gun and air gun which allegedly used in the shooting incident.

But in an interview, Ilunga said the PF provoked the UPND when they went to celebrate their victory at a UPND camp after scooping the Mumila and Katwe ward by elections.

“The shooting happened on Thursday night, just after the results were announced. The sad part of our colleagues in the PF is that even if they have won an election, they still want to tease those that have lost, that is the problem. Instead of just celebrating and leaving the other party that has lost to grieve on their own, they still want to tease them that was the problem. There was no protest, the team that was celebrating, the PF team had gone to the other camp (UPND camp) to tease them so that ignited the volatile situation,” said Ilunga.

“There is no fair play in the way things are being conducted by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, if there was fair play, the results could not be like what always comes out of the elections in which we participate. Whoever fired that could not have done that if they were not provoked. You see when you have lost and then somebody comes to tease you, you can take action which you are able to regret much later. It is not good to tease somebody when they grieving.”

And UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka accused the police of applying “double standards” in the discharge of their duties.

“Such actions by the police of playing double standards are further annoying the citizens of this country in every part of Zambia. When it comes to dealing with Kaizer Zulu and PF cadres, they are using different standards; when it comes to dealing with the opposition, especially the UPND, they apply different measures. It is very unfortunate and because of such actions by the police, the people of Zambia are getting more and more agitated and frustrated with such actions. This is why you see now whilst we sympathize with the police, I don’t think it is right that the police should also continue to be dancing to the tune of the PF cadres or whoever gives them such instructions,” Mucheleka said.

“We condemn violence of any kind, we also want the police to conduct their affairs professionally when it comes to issues dealing with violence and I keep on referring to the issue of Kaizer Zulu, it will never go away. This is a fellow who threatens everyone, shoots people, scares people with the use of guns and he has never been questioned by anyone. He works for the President, he undermines the office of the Presidency and this why today the Presidency has become cheap because of people like Kaizer Zulu, even the President himself has ended up being caught up in the kind of nonsense going on.”

He said the country was slowly drifting into an “Animal Farm”.

“When it comes to arresting people in Mpulungu, people ask questions ‘what about what is going on in Mpulungu?’ It means that the police in this country are casualties! They have failed to maintain law and order, they are now applying rules of the jungle and arrest anyone perceived to be UPND and allow any PF to go free such as Kaizer Zulu. It is very sad, the killer of Lawrence Banda has not yet been arrested, the DC in Luwingu who was threatening people wanting to beat up people, we took the reports to the police, he has not been arrested,” said Mucheleka.

“Lawrence Banda was killed by a known PF cadre and that cadre has not been arrested; you remember Obert Kasongo, the NDC youth chairman Luanshya? He was killed following the injuries he sustained in Luanshya where a named Minister was mentioned, that Minister up to date has never been questioned by the police, people reported the matter to the police, that particular person has never been questioned by the police. We are simply drifting into Animal Farm. We have regenerated into an animal farm situation where some animals are more equal than others and it cannot continue like this.”