Musokototwane arrested as UPND/MMD MPs agree to boycott budget debate in parliament
November 17, 2011 | Filed under: Zambia |
Former Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has been arrested over the bicycles police found at his house in Makeni.
And the UPND MPs have agreed to show solidarity with fellow opposition MPs from the MMD who are being arrested.
Musokotwane is the second former minister to be arrested in two days after Maxwell Mwale was arrested on Wednesday.
UPND MPs met at parliament motel last night and agreed to join MMD MPs to boycott the debate on the 2012 budget.
The MPs from MMD and UPND plan to physically stay out of the house as a way of protesting what they see as political manouvre by the ruling party to reduce the number of MPs in the house.
The ruling party does not have the number of MPs required to approve the budget.
Musokotwane was arrested at Woodlands police station and by mid-morning of Thursday, his lawyers were fighting for a police bond.
On October 7, police raided Musokotwane’s house and confiscated over 1,000 bicycles.
“We want to investigate the matter and find out how the bicycles were procured, for what purpose and with what resources,” then police spokesperson Ndandula Siamana said.
She said Musokotwane co-operated with the police officers who visited his house and allowed them to investigate the matter.
And Ms Siamana said Musokotwane’s wife said the bicycles were for personal use and not for the public.
She said Mrs Musokotwane told police officers the bicycles were meant for campaigns, but that the law enforcement agency is yet to confirm that.
Labels: CORRUPTION, COURTS, MMD, NDANDULA SIAMANA, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE
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Police warn and caution Ndalamei over gold scam
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 19 Oct. 2011, 14:00 CAT
INVESTIGATORS have recorded a warn and caution statement from former secretary to the treasury Likolo Ndalamei in the continuing probe into the gold scam. And police have seized 24 containers suspected to contain MMD bicycles which were to have been used for campaigns in the recently-held elections.
In an interview, police spokesperson Ndandula Siamana said a team of investigators drawn from the Police, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) summoned Ndalamei yesterday and recorded a warn-and-caution statement from him.
She also said Dickson Jere, the former press aide of former president Rupiah Banda, would appear before investigators again after a three-hour interview on Monday at the premises formerly used by the disbanded Task Force on Corruption during the Levy Mwanawasa Presidency.
"Mr Dickson Jere and Mr Ndalamei appeared yesterday Monday for interviews then today yesterday a warn-and-caution statement was recorded from Ndalamei. Mr Jere has to appear again but we have not yet come up with a day," Siamana said. "Both of them were summoned in connection with the gold scam. For Mr Ndalamei, he was summoned being the Secretary to the Treasury then."
Siamana said the police were investigating a matter where they seized some containers belonging to the former ruling party, MMD.
"We have recovered about 24 containers at a place for Mr Saidi Patel where Major Richard Kachingwe had requested that these containers containing bicycles should be kept. We suspect that these containers have bicycles. Our investigations are still ongoing," said Siamana.
Pande, former minister of foreign affairs, who was also summoned and arrived with Jere and Ndalamei, said he was never quizzed over the gold scam but over MMD assets.
"I was quizzed about MMD vehicles as party vice-national chairman. It interrogation went well. They did it professionally. I have no complaints. They were asking me about the procurement of MMD vehicles and bicycles."
Asked if he accounted for the vehicles before the investigators, Pande responded: "those are the details which my lawyer should go into details."
Pande, however, expressed ignorance about the seizure of MMD containers by the police.
And Sikota, the lawyer for the trio, said he would not be dealing with the prosecution and trial of his clients through newspapers.
"It couldn't be right for me as an officer of the court to be conducting the trial through newspapers. I don't want to become part of the media circus surrounding my clients. The whole thing should not denigrate into a media circus," said Sikota, who was the key campaigner for Banda ahead of the September 20 elections that saw the defeat of the incumbent president and end of the MMD's 20-year rule.
President Michael Sata last week revealed that a Swiss businessman, Nichola Bogdan Buzaianu, was linked to the purchase of gold seized by DEC.
The President stated that Buzaianu secretly flew into the country on a private jet and met Banda, his son James and Jere.
Banda, in a press statement on Sunday, confirmed meeting Buzaianu but denied his guest was a fugitive as alleged by President Sata.
He said he welcomed DEC's investigations into the gold scam.
"All the relevant people involved in this transaction are available and will provide necessary answers to the investigating team but suffice to say that no gold went missing mysteriously as has been portrayed," said Banda through his administrative secretary Mikatazo Wakumelo.
In the ongoing investigations into the funding of the extravagant MMD campaign, police have seized about 42 vehicles from the party and over 1,000 bicycles from the MMD that were used for campaigning. The police are investigating the source of funds used to purchase the vehicles, bicycle and other campaign materials and how they were brought into the country.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DEC, DICKSON JERE, LIKOLO NDALAMEI, NDANDULA SIAMANA, RUPIAH BANDA
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COMMENT - Wow. Wow. And wow.
Police probe Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane
TIME PUBLISHED - Saturday, October 8, 2011, 10:03 am
Police in Lusaka are investigating Former Finance Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane for allegedly using public funds to procure over one thousand bicycles. Police Public Relations Officer, Ndandula Siamana says police have
so far confiscated hundreds of bicycles from Dr Musokotwane’s residence in Lusaka west.Ms Siamana has told ZNBC News in Lusaka that police suspect public funds could have been used to buy the bicycles. Ms Siamana could not state what the bicycles were used for but says a statement is yet to be taken from the Former Finance Minister.
ZNBC
Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CORRUPTION, MMD, NDANDULA SIAMANA, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE
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34 die in Nyimba road accident
By Christopher Miti in Chipata and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka
Thu 28 July 2011, 10:00 CAT
THIRTY-four people died yesterday when a Lusaka-bound Zambia-Malawi bus collided head-on with a truck belonging to Kavulamungu in Nyimba area of Eastern Province.
Police spokesperson Ndandula Siamana who confirmed the accident that occurred yesterday at 07:40 hours, said the road crash claimed 28 people on the spot while two died on the way to the hospital, with other deaths occurring at Nyimba District Hospital.
Siamana said the accident occurred at a curve near Mchimanzi Basic School in Nyimba and was caused when the two vehicles collided in the middle of the road, resulting in the truck being completely burnt together with its four passengers.
She identified the two vehicles as a passenger bus registration number ABL 5441 driven by George Siame of Lusaka’s Matero township and the truck with registration number ABZ 5257.
Siame was by press time battling for his life in Nyimba District Hospital together with other 56 passengers, according to Siamana.
“Both drivers were wrong as the collision happened in the middle of the road on the white line,” Siamana said. “So far ,the bodies are lying in Nyimba and Petauke district hospital mortuaries.”
Siamana said the death toll was exacerbated by overloading on the bus.
Separately, Eastern Province permanent secretary Eularia Mwale said the accident occurred when the bus wanted to overtake another bus but ended up colliding with an oncoming truck that was carrying lime.
“This is a very bad accident, the bus that has the capacity of carrying 70 people had 88 passengers on board and the truck which was supposed to carry two people had 6 people,” Mwale said. “Four people from the truck had been burnt beyond recognition. This bus wanted to overtake the other bus, but it collided with the truck which ripped the other side of the bus thereby throwing the passengers all over the place and the truck got burnt.”
She said a number of the survivors were critically injured.
Mwale urged drivers to desist from overloading.
“I urge drivers to desist from overloading and the passengers should also avoid overloaded buses. There are so many buses so they should avoid such buses,” said Mwale.
And Anglican Diocese of Eastern Zambia vicar-general Fr Dennis Milanzi who was travelling to Lusaka on a different bus described the accident as ‘very serious’.
Fr Milanzi said the bus overturned after colliding with the truck.
“I was on Johabie Express and we were following the bus which was involved in an accident, so I actually did not see what transpired, but I can say Nyimba police came in very fast and I saw the DC (Colonel Jeremiah Mbawe) on the scene, so I can say reinforcement came very fast,” said Fr Milanzi.
Labels: CAR ACCIDENTS, EASTERN PROVINCE, NDANDULA SIAMANA
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Garden compound residents riot after man dies in police custody
By Collins Phiri
Sat 13 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT
FURIOUS residents in Lusaka's Garden compound yesterday demolished a police post and burnt vehicles in protest against a suspected case of police brutality in which a man died. They went on the rampage after police officers allegedly beat a man to death for “loitering” on Thursday night.
According to a source, the deceased’s family members went to Garden police post to check on their relative who had been picked up the previous night, but could not find him.
The source said police attempted to bribe relatives who demanded to know the whereabouts of the man with K100,000.
The relatives later discovered the body of the deceased at the police post with a deep cut on the head.
Police spokesperson Ndandula Siamano could not give details of the incident but said senior officers had been sent to investigate.
Labels: NDANDULA SIAMANA, POLICE BRUTALITY, POLICE CORRUPTION, RIOTS
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COMMENT - I guess this is the new 'normal'. This is what happens when you are not seen to deal decisively with this kind of behaviour.
Chinese threatens to shoot workers
By Salim Dawood
Sun 07 Nov. 2010, 03:59 CAT
POLICE have arrested a Lusaka-based Chinese national for threatening to shoot his workers. The Chinese man was arrested yesterday and detained at Emasdale Police Station after his garden boy, Sankulani Phiri and his wife, Monica Sitali, a maid, reported that their employer threatened to shoot them on Friday evening.Emasdale Police recorded a warn and caution statement from Bo Khan of house number 11068, Ngwezi Road in Roma Township before charging him for threatening violence.
Emmasdale Police officers could not give more details on the matter and referred all queries to Police spokesperson Ndandula Siamana who also referred queries to Lusaka division commanding officer Greenwell Nguni.
But when contacted, Nguni said he had not yet received report on the matter.
And narrating their ordeal in an interview, the couple said their employer threatened to shoot them after she asked for permission to go and buy food from the neighbouring Chipata Compound on Friday evening.
Monica narrated that they live in a servant’s quarter within Bo’s yard.
“When I asked him (Bo), he told me to go and call my husband but when I called him, he chased both us saying ‘get out’. I sat on the verandah wondering how we would work with such an employer because he locks us in the yard from morning to evening,” she narrated.
Monica says she was surprised to see Bo coming out of the house with a pistol which he pointed at her husband before turning to her, threatening to shoot both of them.
“He told us that we wanted to steal the money which he was counting, but I apologised to him saying I did not even know that he was counting any money,” she said.
Monica said after 30 minutes, Bo asked her and husband to pack their belongings and leave because he did not want to see them.
She said a Mr Zimba was then instructed to drive and dump the couple in Makeni using Bo’s bus.
Labels: CHINESE, GREENWELL NG'UNI, LABOUR, NDANDULA SIAMANA
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