KABWE Central PF member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube says America-based Zambian law Professor Muna Ndulo is misleading Zambians by saying Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja and Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo are guilty of murder.
And Ngulube says Prof Ndulo is just a political vuvuzela being used by greedy politicians.
In an interview, Ngulube said Prof Ndulo’s argument that Kampyongo and Kanganja were guilty had no legal substance, further accusing the latter of seeking to get political sympathy from the opposition.
“Muna Ndulo is an academician and it is surprising that himself as an academician and an author of the book on Criminal Law, he himself wrote in his book that mens rea matter is not transferable. The intention to kill is not transferable. You can’t transfer murder on a person who was not even on the scene. How come now because of political reasons he wants to change the narrative? So we just want to urge Professor Ndulo to keep his limits. If he thinks the IG is guilty of murder, let him demonstrate how guilty they are. Let him demonstrate! Command responsibility does not apply because no one knows the killer, no one saw who shot, no one saw the murder itself that is why we are saying those who know how the murder happened should come forth and give us testimony on how they witnessed it. For them to just wake and start giving stories and excuses, I don’t think it will work,” Ngulube said.
“What we want to say is Professor Ndulo must not mislead the public because he can be guilty also of giving false information to the public. Because right now the Professor is speaking to try and gain political sympathy from the opposition with a view that when they form government, maybe he will be considered for a job or something. We just want to assure him, please keep away from partisan politics because he will be bruised. If he continues like that, he will be bruised.”
He argued that Prof Ndulo’s theory of applying international law to the matter was not suitable for the domestic situation.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no international law involved in this issue. It is a domestic matter. International law can only happen where two states are involved or something that happens abroad. So how can a seasoned lecturer bring in international law in a matter we feel ourselves happened at home? Zambian laws are sufficient. International law from what we know only comes in where there is, for example, cross border activity. I don’t think he knows what he is talking about. He must learn to stay away from misleading the public,” he said.
“The President as far as we are concerned has made a statement, a categorical statement condemning whatever he has transferred. The President has actually fired two deputy IGs. So he cannot wake up today and claim the President has done nothing. The President condemned the shooting immediately it happened. Secondly, the President ordered that a report must be sent to his office. One thing you need to know is that the President cannot act in air you know, the President should act on official information given to him. So as far as we are concerned, the President condemned the killings. He also took action by demoting and removing some police officers for failing to actually handle this situation.”
And Ngulube said Prof Ndulo was being used by greedy politicians.
“Professor Ndulo should actually be explaining to the people of Zambia why is it that every time Hakainde Hichilema is confronting the police, people’s lives are lost. We have never heard Hakainde condemning that. We have never heard Professor Ndulo condemning Hakainde. Why would someone being summoned by the police go with a crowd? We have never heard of such a thing. We have had opposition cadres summoned to the police, they have actually gone on their own, they have never gone with human shields or human sacrifices to cover their criminality by actually killing innocent people. So we want to urge Professor Ndulo to stay in your lane, let politicians do politics. Him as an academician, let him stick to teaching. If he wants, let him declare intentions to stand as a politician and we should come and see how popular he is on the ground. For now, Professor Ndulo is just a political vuvuzela being used by greedy politicians,” said Ngulube.