Chipata PF youths foil William's attempt to flee into Malawi

Chipata PF youths foil William's attempt to flee into Malawi
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tue 27 Sep. 2011, 14:20 CAT

RULING PF youths in Chipata have carried out a citizens arrest on fugitive Lusaka Province MMD chairperson William Banda and handed him over to the police. Banda, who was with his family, was picked from Lombardo Lodge which is located near Kanjala Hills near the border with Malawi and was found with three firearms, two pistols and a Greener shotgun, which are being held by police.

He is reported to have also been found with K143 million in cash. The visibly shaken Banda was ‘captured' by a group of PF youths who decided to launch a manhunt for him upon hearing that the violent MMD Lusaka Province chairperson was in Chipata.

PF Eastern Province publicity secretary Mung'omba Ngoma said the youths pounced on Banda on suspicion that he was en route to Malawi.

He said PF vice-provincial chairperson Andrew Lubusha set up a task force to specifically look for Banda after hearing that he was hiding in Chipata.

"Yesterday (Sunday) we followed him to his son's residence and we missed him. We had a tip from members of the public and so today (yesterday) we mobilised about ten youths and we went to Lombardo Lodge. We didn't even hoot, we just entered into the lodge premises and just saw people scampering in all directions and that's how we moved in and captured everybody who was there," Ngoma said.

He said Banda produced a gun when confronted.

But the police have since confiscated the three firearms found in Banda's possession.

"This is a very good lesson to the whole nation that when you are in the ruling party, you should not intimidate people because the things that you do will one day come back to you," he said.

Ngoma has since called for calm among the PF youths to allow police to complete their investigations into the alleged violence he caused before the elections.

Lubusha explained that the PF youths did not detain Banda but merely handed him over to police for safety reasons.

Lubusha said the PF wanted peace and that that was the reason they had apprehended Banda.

A number of police officers had a tough time trying to disperse a crowd of people that wanted to catch a glimpse of Banda.

By press time, Banda was still at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Chipata Central Police Station.

When asked about Banda's fate, Eastern Province police commanding officer Mary Chikwanda said he would be handed over to Lusaka Division as he had no case in Chipata.