ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: LUNGU PARDONS POLITICAL PRISONER AFUMBA MOMBOTWA, FIVE OTHERS TO CELEBRATE BIRTHDAY
11 November 2019 | Author News Editor, Barotseland Post
As he celebrates his 63rd birthday, Zambian President Edgar Lungu has pardoned five prisoners, among them Barotseland independence leader, Afumba Mombotwa, who was serving fifteen (15) years in maximum prison for taking an oath of office as Barotseland administrator general in his formed Barotseland transitional government in August of 2013 which would facilitate the peaceful and legal implementation of the 2012 Barotse National Council (BNC) unanimous resolutions for Barotseland independence from Zambia.
Afumba Mombotwa (60), has been in maximum prison since his arrest on 5th December 2014 with two other Barotseland compatriots and fellow prisoners, Inambao Kalima (59) and Likando Pelekelo (64).
Meanwhile, the fate of Kalima and Pelekelo is yet to be determined.
In a press statement by the Special Assistant to the President (Press and Public Relations) at State House, in Lusaka on Monday, 11th November 2019, to mark Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s 63rd birthday, the President of the Republic of Zambia pardoned the five inmates from various correctional facilities.
This was in the exercise of the powers vested in the Zambian President by Article 97 of the Constitution of Zambia Chapter (1) of the Laws of Zambia which provides for the Presidential pardon and substitution of severe punishment imposed on the convicted.
Others pardoned alongside Afumba are Chief Mulongwe, Maxwell Mwale – who is Former Minister in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government, Journalist Derrick Sinjela and former Zambian Airforce Commander Christopher Singongo.
Many Barotseland independence activists and international human rights watchdogs have been lobbying for the unconditional release of Afumba Mombotwa and his two Barotse patriots, and it is here hoped that the remaining two Barotseland political prisoners still in Zambian jail will be released sooner rather than later.
http://barotselandpost.com/…/lungu-pardons-political-priso…
BAROTSELAND POST COMMENT: In spite of receiving this Presidential pardon one year ago, Afumba Mombotwa remains imprisoned at Zambia’s State maximum prison after President Lungu’s Home Affairs Minister, Stephen Kampyongo, reportedly reversed the pardon several hours after it was officially announced by the Presidency, an anomaly that Zambians have watched quietly by.
We, therefore, call on President Lungu to revisit this unprecedented eventuality which amounts to a gross infringement of Mr Afumba’s human rights.
Once a prisoner has been pardoned under the Zambian President’s constitutional prerogative of mercy, the recipient of such mercy is deemed as a free person, and the only way they could be imprisoned is if they committed a fresh crime for which they get tried and convicted for another prison term.