RENOWNED musician Brian Bwembya popularly known as B-Flow says careless statements coming from Ministers like Bowman Lusambo are triggering PF cadres to start attacking citizens.
Recounting how some PF cadres attacked him on Saturday night in an interview, Bwembya said he was grateful for his life.
“I was invited to the premiere of a local movie at the Government Complex on Saturday evening. The event did not start at the exact time it was mentioned. When I was leaving, as I was trying to walk out going to the car park at Government Complex there are those long stairs opposite the Freedom Statue somewhere there, as I was going down, a certain boy just followed me and said ‘Mr Obama ta twa lyemo, give me something before you go.’ I just looked at him he was just a young boy. So I thought he was one of those boys found outside the Government Complex who wash cars. So I told him to say that ‘you know when I have money, I give, but today I don’t have’. So the guy insisted ‘ba kamba fye please zoona zoona’, I said ‘my friend I don’t have money. So while I was talking to him I just saw another group coming behind him, these guys were about six or seven guys were now following me saying ‘bwana ba Obama tu lyemo, tu peleko indalama (give us some money)’ then I said ‘I am just telling this guy that I don’t have money’,” Bwembya narrated.
“So as I was walking down, I reached the end of the stairs one of them said ‘give us money! Are you not hearing what we are saying’. So about two of them walked in front of me and went round the bus that was packed near the stairs trying to block me. So I told the person I was with that ‘let us go back to the stairs there because there are people there and there is light there’, so as we were going back, I just received a very hard slap on the left side of my face. I am turning round to say ‘guys what wrong have I done?’, I receive another slap on the same spot, the guys started punching me, I blocked them, they started to kick me, then a guy I know came and asked ‘what has B-Flow done?’, then they started saying these guys insult leaders, he should stop insulting leaders, he insults the President. That is when I realised that they are cadres, they said ‘us we are PF. At Intercity if you have ever heard ati Bulldog, it is me you are seeing, the other one says I am 99′. So That is how I quickly managed to run away up the stairs as the guys were talking to the other guy. So some guys from G Force security came, they said `we are here to protect you, we have seen what was happening, we will take you to your car’.”
Bwembya said careless statements by some government officials were causing cadres to attack innocent citizens.
“We have seen Ministers making reckless statements like you are too naked to misbehave, you are bringing the name of the President into disrepute. So for me when I hear a cadre saying that ula tuka itugulushi (you insult leaders) when I know I have never insulted a leader, I have been very objective in bringing out issues. When I hear cadres say ulatuka ba kateka (you insult the President) what that tells me is that cadre is feeding on the information that is being issued by Ministers like Bowman Lusambo. So when those cadres hear a Minister like Bowman Lusambo saying such things to them it is a signal that Bowman Lusambo is against me and is accusing me of that. To them who are illiterate or ignorant and they don’t really understand what these words mean, automatically they will just think ‘the Minister is giving us a signal to say these are the people we should attack’. Now we are being attacked and we are being bruised and we are being beaten up by cadres, people are losing their lives. We saw another person being attacked at their homes yesterday because our Ministers are making reckless statements,” Bwembya said.
Bwembya said he had already reported the matter to the police and he expected them to arrest the culprits.
“I have reported the matter to police and I have mentioned those nick names that were mentioned by those people who were saying ‘have you ever heard of the name Bulldog and 99 at Intercity’, so I mentioned those names to the police, I got a medical report, I went to the hospital where I was given medication, I was scanned, I did an x-ray to just check if they are any internal injuries because of the manner they beat me. I was given medication and I went back to the police and we started investigations. I want to believe the police will get to the bottom of this. This is a very big case on the part of the police because I reported the matter at the police station that was recently attacked by cadres which is Central Police. So it is now up to them to prove that they still have the power,” said Bwembya.
“As we heard towards elections, this will worsen and the problem is the more they are attacking people, the more citizens will start feeling the need to defend themselves. Before you know, people will start moving with weapons, that is like starting a war. If a war breaks out in Zambia, who are we going to blame? We are going to blame the people that have empowered cadres, the people that have tolerated criminals?”
