The President has sneaked out of the country, says NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili.

And Kambwili says police on the Copperbelt have not yet charged 11 people they arrested for going to his house to complain about mistreatment from AVIC.

Speaking to journalists at his house yesterday, Kambwili said President Edgar Lungu had gone to South Africa without any of his aides and there was an allegation that he had also travelled with businessman Valden Findlay.

“The President of this country has actually sneaked out of the country. He sneaked out of the country yesterday without carrying any government official at all. Not even his aides, not even the press aide, not even the special advisor to the press for politics, not even the private secretary, he only went out of the country with the ADC. Not even the usual cadres escorting him at the airport. And that’s why I’m calling it sneaking out of the country. So this country must know where the President is going because the President is a property of the state and he was elected by the people and all his movements, the people must know, more especially when he is leaving this country. There’s no way that the President can be sneaking out of the country unless he is going to do deals or what he is going to do there is issues of suspicious nature. Why should the President leave the country alone without any government officials?” Kambwili asked.

“Using tax payers’ money, using the presidential jet, using tax payers’ fuel, and I am reliably informed he has gone to South Africa. Can government tell us why he sneaked out of the country, what he has gone to do and why he travelled all by himself without even the usual cadres seeing him off at the airport. Because when the president is leaving this country, we are informed well in advance and we see cadres going to the airport. But this time, he sneaked out of the country. And there is an allegation that he went only with Valden Findlay. And that he is meeting another Zambian businessman who had gone in advance, through Mozambique. What they have gone to do, only heaven knows. The circumstances under which the President has left this country is suspicious and I am demanding that the country be told, the Chief Government Spokesperson or the presidential aide in charge of press must tell us where the President is and why he sneaked out of the country quietly because the president is not a private citizen. He is citizen number one who is fed by tax payers money, who is clothed by tax payers money, so every movement he makes out of the country, the tax payers must know.”

He wondered why President Lungu was so fond of Findlay.

“And we want to know, what is the role of Valden Findlay in this country? Because it appears that Valden Findlay moves with the president everywhere he goes, whether abroad or local, on government trips, on party trips, he moves with Valden. Valden is neither a government nor a PF official. You can see that even when Prince Harry visited, he was on the photo at State House. What is the role of Findlay? Who pays for his accommodation and passage when he goes with the President? Who pays his allowances? Because there’s no way the President can just pick an ordinary citizen from the street to be moving with him all the time. And by the way, some people have got questionable backgrounds and to move with the President, it reflects on the kind of country that we have,” Kambwili said.

And Kambwili said police on the Copperbelt had not yet charged 11 people they arrested for going to his house to complain about mistreatment from AVIC.

“Secondly, police have detained 11 of the boys who came to complain to me about their mistreatment by AVIC. They have detained them since Monday, they have not charged them, and the law is very clear that you can’t keep someone for 48 hours without charging them. And surely, why should the government punish its own citizens for complaining against its employer just because he is Chinese?” asked Kambwili.