Chipimo denounces Sata assassination plot pronouncement

Chipimo denounces Sata assassination plot pronouncement
By Allan Mulenga
Tue 28 Aug. 2012, 10:20 CAT

NAREP president Elias Chipimo says Geoffrey Mwamba's pronouncements concerning an alleged attempted assassination of President Michael Sata are a political joke.

In an interview yesterday, Chipimo (above) said defence minister Mwamba's pronouncements should have been made in a more appropriate fashion by the relevant authorities, so as not to alarm the public.

He said it was the responsibility of investigative wings to deal with such allegations and not the defence minister.

"This is quite an alarming statement and if it was true, we would expect a much more professional approach to communicating this kind of information to the public. You would expect that there would be an official from the investigative wings, not from the Ministry of Defence, because it is not his job to investigate such an allegation. It is the job of the security wings of this administration.

"It would have been the police; it would probably even be security information handled by the internal security system of this country," he said.

Chipimo urged politicians to desist from making statements that would fuel tension in the country.

"We would urge politicians to desist from making statements that really should be made in a more appropriate fashion by the appropriate authorities. If the police, particularly the Inspector General of Police was to explain to us what was going on in this matter, it might carry a bit more weight and credibility. But as it stands right now, it is made to look as though it is mere politicking. This is the kind of politics that NAREP has been saying: 'we don't want to be part of'. We want to be a part of a constructive approach towards creating development in this country," he said.

"If you look at our history, there has always been accusations...Mrs Nakatindi Wina spent time in the cells under the pretext that she was part of some kind of conspiracy to overthrow the administration at that time. We saw that former president Kaunda was himself detained on Christmas Day by the late former president Chiluba over allegations that he was also involved in some kind of attempts to undermine a legitimately established government," said Chipimo.

On Sunday, Mwamba said that there was an assassination attempt on President Sata.

He said investigations were ongoing.

Mwamba was reacting to UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema who suggested that the defence minister should also be arrested because he had told people in November last year that there was a plot by opposition leaders and some retired generals to assassinate the President.