Tonse-Pamodzi accuses security agencies of seizing campaign funds, denies kidnapping reports

Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson George Chisanga has denied reports that he and two senior colleagues were kidnapped on Monday, saying instead that a joint team from the Drug Enforcement Commission, police and the Anti-Corruption Commission raided his Lusaka law chambers and…

Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson George Chisanga has denied reports that he and two senior colleagues were kidnapped on Monday, saying instead that a joint team from the Drug Enforcement Commission, police and the Anti-Corruption Commission raided his Lusaka law chambers and seized more than seven million dollars intended for polling agents and campaign logistics.

Addressing journalists alongside NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile, Chisanga said he wanted to correct what he described as a well-meaning but inaccurate rumour that he, Japhen Mwakalombe and senior alliance member Sebastian Kopulande had been abducted. He said Kopulande remained in custody at the time of the briefing.

Chisanga said officers arrived at his chambers, which the alliance sometimes uses for campaign business, and held him and his colleagues incommunicado for roughly twelve hours. He said officials told him the operation targeted funds being prepared for distribution to polling agents and election monitors ahead of Thursday’s vote.

“We explained exactly what we were doing and what we intended to achieve with the exercise that we put in place. We even gave them documents that showed clearly how the money has been earmarked and what it’s supposed to be utilised for,” Chisanga said.

He said the funds, contributed by well-wishers, had been earmarked mainly to resource polling agents and monitors countrywide, with a smaller portion set aside for final campaign rallies in Mazabuka, Livingstone and Choma. He said officers proceeded to seize the money despite receiving that explanation.

“That money, like I said, most of it was intended to be utilised for logistics, for people who are going to monitor elections, polling agents who have already been appointed and accredited,” he said.

Chisanga said staff at his chambers who had no connection to the alliance’s campaign work were also searched, and described the operation as an attempt to weaken the alliance’s ability to organise in the campaign’s final days rather than a genuine law-enforcement exercise.

“The intention clearly is to paralyse the Tonse alliance in the work that they’re doing,” he said, adding that those involved had since been asked to report to the Commission’s offices later the same day.

He appealed to authorities to return the funds without delay, arguing that the money carried no element of criminality and was needed to ensure polling agents could reach stations, some of them in remote rural areas, on polling day.

Chisanga said the alliance remained determined to contest the election despite the setback, and thanked supporters who had continued sending messages of solidarity after news of the raid spread. He said the alliance was still weighing whether a scaled-back visit to Southern Province remained possible before Thursday.