Police Charge Mafinga South MP As Women’s Movement Demands Account Of Her Detention

Newly elected Mafinga South member of parliament Faith Munthali has been arrested and charged with being armed in public and conspiracy to commit a felony, police have confirmed, while a national women’s movement has demanded a full account of how she was taken into custody and…

Newly elected Mafinga South member of parliament Faith Munthali has been arrested and charged with being armed in public and conspiracy to commit a felony, police have confirmed, while a national women’s movement has demanded a full account of how she was taken into custody and where she has been held.

Muchinga Province Police Commissioner Lubinda Mayamba said the lawmaker was arrested in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between 13 July and 14 August this year in the Muyombe area of Mafinga District.

He said Ms Munthali was allegedly in the company of a group of men purportedly serving as her security personnel when the incidents took place.

The group allegedly conducted itself in a military-like manner while armed with machetes, slashers, catapults and golf clubs, causing fear and alarm among members of the public, Mr Mayamba said.

The charges against the lawmaker are being armed in public, contrary to Section 85 of the Penal Code, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia, and conspiracy to commit a felony.

Ms Munthali has been jointly charged with Gift Simfukwe, Misheck Singongo and Royd Musumali. The three co-accused have already appeared before the Isoka Resident Magistrate’s Court, where they took plea.

Mr Mayamba said trial in the matter is scheduled to begin on Thursday, 17 September, and that Ms Munthali remains in police custody and will appear before court in due course.

He used the announcement to issue a broader warning to political and community leaders.

“The Zambia Police Service cautions all political and community leaders against engaging in conduct that may threaten public order, cause fear and alarm, or otherwise undermine the peace and security of members of the public,” Mr Mayamba said.

The police account has been met with a sharply different reading of the same events from the Non-governmental Gender Organisations Coordinating Council, which has described what happened to the Citizens First lawmaker as an alleged abduction.

Board chairperson Beauty Katebe said the organisation wants the Zambia Police Service to state publicly where Ms Munthali is being held and under what authority she was taken.

“NGOCC calls on the Zambia Police Service to provide an update on the whereabouts of newly elected Mafinga South Member of Parliament Faith Munthali amid reports of an alleged abduction,” Ms Katebe said.

Police sources have placed the lawmaker in detention in Chinsali, acting on instructions from Force Headquarters.

Ms Munthali had told the nation last week that she believed the State was moving to seize her in order to prevent her from being sworn in as a member of the National Assembly.

Ms Katebe said the manner of apprehension, rather than the existence of charges, is what the organisation is challenging.

“The rule of law requires that any person suspected of an offence be accorded due process through a lawful call-out, not extrajudicial apprehension,” she said.

She anchored that position in Article 18 of the Constitution, which requires that a person suspected of an offence be given the opportunity to appear before police through a lawful call-out rather than being subjected to a military-style apprehension.

Ms Katebe said the organisation has observed a pattern in which aspiring and elected members of parliament, particularly those from the opposition, have faced intimidation and harassment both before and after this year’s general elections.

She said that pattern sits uneasily with Zambia’s constitutional order and with the country’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee liberty, security of the person and freedom from arbitrary detention.

The organisation has also framed the matter as a test of women’s participation in public life, arguing that the targeting of a woman lawmaker carries consequences well beyond the individual case.

Ms Katebe demanded that the police confirm Ms Munthali’s status, guarantee her safety and grant her access to legal representation.

The two accounts do not contradict each other on the substance of the charges. They diverge on process, on where the lawmaker has been held since she was taken, and on whether a call-out was ever issued before she was apprehended.

Neither the Zambia Police Service nor Force Headquarters has publicly explained the basis on which the lawmaker was moved to Chinsali, nor why the three co-accused were able to appear before court at Isoka while she was not brought alongside them.

Ms Munthali has not yet taken plea. Her three co-accused are due back in court on 17 September for the commencement of trial, and the police say she will be produced before the court in due course.