Zambia Correction Service Commissioner General Percy Chato says UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema is allowed to meet three visitors at any given time.
And Chato has explained that UPND officials were not allowed to see Hichilema yesterday because Saturday was not a visiting day at Kabwe’s Mukobeko Maximum Prison.
In an exclusive interview with News Diggers!, Chato said the Correctional Service respected the principle of the inherent dignity of humans as well as the safety of accused person, and as such, it had no plans to infringe upon the visitation rights of Hichilema and his co-accused.
“We are not infringing upon the visitation rights of all the accused person. All visits are conducted as per rules contained in Rule 132 (1) and (2) of the Prison Act (CAP 97 of the Laws of Zambia) i.e. “No prisoner shall be allowed more than three visitors at any one time and All visits to prisoner shall take place during such hours as the officer in charge may direct…” Chato explained.
He said Kabwe Maximum Security Prison only allows visits on Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays.
“As a Service we operate by a system of laws and procedures. Visits to Kabwe Maximum Security of the accused persons by their family and friends shall take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 to 11:40h and from 14 to 15:40h to enable us conduct midday lockup and final lock up respectively,” he explained.
He added that since Hichilema was not yet convicted, his wife Mutinta was allowed to visit him on a Saturday and she managed to take food inside the maximum prison facility.
“Some party officials and Chiefs were not permitted to visit yesterday because Saturday was not a visiting day. However, HH’s wife was permitted to bring food to the accused person because HH as an unconvicted prisoner has been permitted to maintain himself or to receive from private sources at proper hours, food or other necessaries in accordance to Rule 87 of the Prison Act,” said Chato.
“As a Service we respect the principles of the inherent dignity of human persons and ensure that the safety of the accused persons is guaranteed.”
Meanwhile, a horde of UPND members of parliament is camped outside the gate at Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe where they are trying to negotiate passage with the prison authorities.
One Response
Its very sad indeed how in christian nation we keep our people like dogs .We respect foreigners more than fellow black munthu especially when they are whites colour and thats why we danced to the arrest of the chinese and we had to break our own laws to releases them FOR FREE what a shamefuly systeme.Your days are numbered Mr Chato dont come and say one day you were never told so by us peopel in kapiri mposhi..If you go to china and commits crime the laws there ARE TOTAL blind and even presidents from other nations dont cough.The point here MR chato is why putting HH there when he hasnt been convicted? Is he a security risk ..? not at all .Are the UPND members violent?..Not at all .So why keeping him so far and he has to attend cases in lusaka? Is it a plan to cause the so called helicopter clash land one day as some media have been saying ??.Surely mr Chota you owe the nation an explanation..The country dependending on donor support even for paying its workers +cannot provide meals for its inmates;;; cant go into expensive ventures of flying HH in and out of kabwe dailly to lusaka.Its a wast of tax payers money ,,its unacceptable.