“Save it for the ICC”: Opposition alliance fires back at Kachingwe
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The alliance comprising 10 opposition political parties has hit back at veteran politician Richard Kachingwe, telling him to save whatever defense he has of his son for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
And the opposition alliance has advised Major Kachingwe against singling out UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema because the decision to report 10 individuals to the ICC for perpetrating violence against the opposition in Zambia was a collective one.
At a press briefing on Sunday, Major Kachingwe launched an impassioned defense of his son Mpange, whom the opposition alliance has identified as one of the leaders of a state-funded militia group whom they intend to report to the ICC.
The former diplomat and MMD national secretary who was until recently a member of the UPND accused Hakainde Hichilema of ruining his son Mpange’s reputation and announced that he was cutting all ties to the opposition party and its leader.
But in a statement, PeP leader and the chairperson of the media and finance committee of the alliance Sean Tembo says if Mpange Kachingwe is indeed innocent, the ICC will acquit him accordingly.
“The Opposition Alliance has noted with interest the utterances of Major Richard Kachingwe in defense of his son, Mpange Kachingwe who is said to be one of the 10 individuals whom the Alliance has identified as perpetrating, undertaking, facilitating, coordinating and funding state sponsored political violence against the Opposition in Zambia, and who are in the process of being reported to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for Crimes Against Humanity, in accordance with article 7 sub-article 1(h) of the Rome Statue. Our advice to Major Richard Kachingwe, and through him, to the families of all the 10 accused persons that include President Lungu, is that kindly preserve whatever defense you might have, and present such defense at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. If your defense is factual and sensible, you shall surely be acquitted accordingly,” Tembo said.
“As Opposition Alliance, we further wish to advise Mr. Richard Kachingwe to stop abusing the decision of the Alliance to report this matter to the ICC, for purposes of ostracizing the UPND President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema. As previously stated, this was a collective decision of all the 12 opposition political parties that make up the Opposition Alliance. Therefore, it is a mark of cowardice for anyone who wishes to complain against this Alliance decision to direct such complaints to a single member of the Alliance, as opposed to the collective body of the Opposition Alliance. Given the foregoing, we are left with no option but to conclude that Major Richard Kachingwe was merely seeking political relevance by continuously mentioning the name of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema throughout his press briefing.”
And Tembo says the alliance expects a lot more PF-sponsored press conferences like the one by Major Kachingwe because decision to report the state sponsored political violence to the ICC has rattled many.
“As Opposition Alliance, we would also like to put it on record that the decision to report the PF state sponsored political violence to the ICC has rattled a lot of people who know the violent crimes that they have committed against citizens of this Republic. It is on this basis that going forward, we expect a lot more PF sponsored press briefings such as the one that was held this afternoon by Major Richard Kachingwe. We are all aware that Major Richard Kachingwe cannot possibly afford a venue for a press briefing at the Sarovar Hotel, and that someone with deeper pockets facilitated Major Kachingwe’ s baseless utterances this afternoon.
“As Opposition Alliance, we remain resolute in bringing sanity to the manner in which politics is practiced in this country. Politics is not, should not and must not be a matter of life and death. We are hopeful that the International Criminal Court will assist to sanitize our local politics, from now onwards.”