Kampyongo Defends Police Raid On HH’s In-Laws

Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo has told parliament that police acted lawfully in carrying out a raid against the family of UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s wife last week. 

Mr Kampyongo was responding to a question raised by Mwebeshi MP Machila Jamba during a parliamentary question and answer session.

The Home Affairs Minister defended police officers, who last Friday ransacked a village in Shibuyunji district in search of suspected weapons. Officers raided a home belonging to Jones Mpolobe, the cousin of Hakainde Hichilema’s wife Mutinta, but found nothing. Mr Mpolobe said the experience had left him traumatised. 

Mr Kampyongo insists that the raid was lawful, arguing that there were reasonable grounds to suspect weapons were being hidden and that similar operations had been carried out in Chisamba and Chibombo districts. 

Hichilema himself condemned the raid during a visit to Shibuyunji over the weekend. He described the police’s actions as “dictatorial” and accused the PF government of wasting public resources by carrying out politically-motivated attacks on his family.