Maravi

Mongu cops arrest ZANAMA officials

Mongu cops arrest ZANAMA officials
By Mwala Kalaluka
Sat 23 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

POLICE in Mongu on Thursday arrested Zambia National Marketeers Association (ZANAMA) top officials in the district after they incited their members not to pay trading licence fees to the local authority.

And some Roman Catholic Church priests in Mongu Diocese have described the government’s attacks on Bishop Paul Duffy following his statement that the Rupiah Banda administration had neglected the Western Province as misplaced and cheap politicking.

Mongu Municipal Council spokesperson Chrispin Kalihonga confirmed in an interview from Mongu that among those picked up by the police was ZANAMA Mongu chairman Mackson Mulilo.

Kalihonga said the ZANAMA officials were nabbed after they allegedly started using abusive language against Mongu Council officials and police officers that went to collect trading licence fees for 2010 at Mongu Central Market.

“There is ZANAMA who are trying to incite marketeers not to pay for trading licence. Now the situation is calm and marketeers are paying,” said Kalihonga when asked what sparked the confusion at the market. “The ringleaders have been picked by police and that is now an issue that is between ZANAMA and the police.”

Kalihonga said the confusion started when council officers went to collect the K65,000 from marketeers, the fee for their 2010 trading licences but due to influence from ZANAMA officials, the marketeers put up some resistance.

“Of course we asked for support from the state police so that they could help us collect this fee,” Kalihonga narrated. “Upon seeing the police in the company of council officials, ZANAMA officials started using abusive language. So of course that annoyed the police.”

Kalihonga said he was not aware of what offence the police would slap on Mulilo and his colleagues following their arrest.

Western Province deputy police commanding officer, a Mr Chongo, said he could not confirm the arrests because he had not received any report on the matter.

But eyewitnesses said the marketeers resisted paying the trading licence fee because the council was not providing services in the markets.

The sources said the marketeers even went further to stage a demonstration at some district government offices to register their displeasure.

And Mongu’s St John’s Catholic Church priest, Fr Cliff Fumbelo said the priests in Mongu Diocese were behind Bishop Duffy and the position he had taken on the lack of development in Western Province.
“Bishop Duffy has a moral obligation to speak for the poor in Mongu Diocese because he is obliged to speak for them and on behalf of them just like Jesus came on behalf of the poor and neglected,” said Fr Fumbelo.

“The attacks are unfounded and they are cheap politicking because the truth is here for anyone to see…what Bishop Duffy is saying are not lies as the government is alleging. As a priest and other priests here in Mongu Diocese who see the poverty in Western Province, we are behind Bishop Duffy. We are behind him because he also gets information from us and when he speaks, he speaks on our behalf as well.”

Labels: MARKETEERS, MONGU, ZANAMA

posted by MrK @ 10:55 PM