POLICE in Kitwe have arrested a 24-year-old businessman for insulting President Edgar Lungu.
This comes barely two weeks after police in Ndola arrested another businessman for defamation of the President.
Copperbelt Deputy commissioner of police Bothwell Namuswa confirmed the arrest.
Namuswa identified the suspect as Lawrence Kasonde of Kapoto in Kwacha.
He explained that this was after police received a complaint from PF Kwacha ward councillor Alex Chembo.
“He reported that an unknown person posted a video on a PF WhatsApp group in which he was insulting the President indirectly. Following that report, our officers investigated and unearthed his identity as Lawrence Kasonde of St Anthony area in Kitwe. We managed to apprehended him and he is currently detained,” said Namuswa.
Namuswa said Kasonde is likely to be slapped with several charges, among them Defamation of the President.
In the said Video, Kasonde said he had just registered to vote and it was time to change Zambia’s leadership.
“Ifwe mukwayi tulamyumfwa efyo mulelanda natwikala. But fyonse tulomfwa fye bwino. Ine ninebo Kasonde naba mu Kitwe, nabela ku Bulangililo. Twaile muku kopwa aka ka voters’ card aka. Nganamumona ne mpumi natupalana noyo uli apa. Tata kwali ukuya 05:00 ukufumamo 19 shani. Kanshi chali uku kansana naba madam ati nikwisa mwachiya. Echo tulelwishisha sana ichikalamba chinshi? Kufwaya tumufunyepo uyu m*tole yakwe. Inchito iyi yakosesha. Yakosesha uyu chik*la atushupa. Iyi yena twishile taishile bwino. Echo tulefwaya ninshi? Kuchinja intungulushi ikatungulula pano pa Zambia. Not uyu m*tole yakwe upitiluka fye. Chimo na ubulimi bwakale tautalalika mwana. Namuya mona aya? Echo tulefwaya kuchinja ubuteko. Uyu ena apesha, tulefwaya tumufunyepo atu chusha. So iseni twikatane (We see what you post on social media, we just spectate. I am Kasonde from Kitwe. I stay in Bulangililo to be specific. I went to get a voter’s card. As you can see, I resemble the person on the card. I had to go at 05:00 to collect this card and I came back around 19:00 hours. I got into a fight with my wife because she was questioning where I had gone. Why really are we struggling for this? We want to remove this man (derogatory term) from the presidency. This job has become difficult. It is too difficult. This man (derogatory term) has made our lives difficult. What really do we want? We want a leadership that will take over this country not this man who loiters. It’s the same thing that you cannot comfort a child by telling them that in the past, things were good. Have you seen this (flashing the voters’ card)? We want to change the government, this one has made us suffer. We want to remove him. So let us unite),” said Kasonde, among other things.