Luena Member of Parliament Mulumemui Imenda has wondered whether the Zambian Human Rights Commission (HRC) had people to deal with human rights violations in her constituency in Barotseland.
Contributing to debate on Thursday (18th February 2016) afternoon when the Zambian parliament approved names for the Commissions Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and Commissioners, Imenda said when people were arrested in 2011 in Mongu over Barotseland issues they were taken to Mumbwa almost 400 kilometres away from their relatives, witnesses and lawyers.
‘They were taken to some remote area called Mumbwa some 400 kilometres away, that to me already is a human rights violation because you are taking them away from families and witnesses and maybe from their lawyers,’ She lamented.
She said the same thing happened when the PF came to power in 2011 after winning in Mongu because they told people they were part of them (Sata said he was Linyungandambo number 1) but when the people demanded for what they were promised the government arrested them and took them to Mwembeshi almost 600 kilometres away from Mungu.
She further pointed out that in December 2014 some people (Afumba and 3 others) were arrested in Mwandi of Barotseland and taken to Kabwe in Zambia’s central province, thousands of kilometres away from the place where the crime was allegedly committed.
Imenda said from the time of arrests of Simon Kapwepwe and Nalumino Mundia, the only other time when people were arrested and detained hundreds of kilometres away from their homes and families was in the colonial days.
‘Tell me, since the time of Kapwepwe and Nalumino Mundia, it was only during the freedom struggle when people were detained in far places, what more worse human right violations do you expect than this,’ she wondered.
She further said that she expects the recommended members of the Human Rights Commission to be fair in their operations because people were under ‘attack’.
And Lukulu West Member of Parliament Misheck Mutelo told the Zambian Parliament that on 9th January this year a Karavina suspect was arrested and detained in Lukulu but when relatives and community members made a follow up they were referred to the mortuary.
The suspect is alleged to have died after he was tortured while in police custody, a situation which forced relatives and Lukulu residents to riot.
Mutelo said 10 relatives to the deceased were arrested and transferred to Kaoma where they are being tried in court.
He further told the House that a grade seven pupil of Kalabo named Simunji Mweenda who had just qualified to grade 8 was picked from home at 03 hours in the morning by African Parks Game Guards and has remained in detention.
Mutelo jokingly observed that the heavy deployment of police has now spread from Barotseland to Bweengwa in Southern Province where Zambian President Edgar Lungu has deployed soldiers and police to intimidate villagers after they were accused of allegedly abducting armed police officers and journalists when President Lungu visited the area last week.