HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OFFICER DARED

By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA HUMAN Rights Commission (HRC) spokesperson, Mwelya Muleya should explain where the missing Hatembo siblings are since he seems confident that they were not abducted, Citizens Democratic Party (CDP) president Robert Mwanza has said. This follows a statement he made which has since been denied by his chairman, Mudford Mwandenga suggesting that the Hatembo siblings had not been abducted but that they were afraid of the State and a third-party. Mr Mwanza said Mr Muleya should help the police with information on the whereabouts of the Hatembo siblings since he had carried out investigations on the matter where he discovered that they were not abducted. He said Mr Muleya should be made to account why he was confident that the Hatembos were not being held under duress. “Since Muleya knows where the Hatembos are considering that he is confident they are not being held under duress, let him help the police with his findings,” Mr Mwanza said. From Page 1 Mr Mwanza also questioned why Mr Muleya, a public official was commenting on the abduction matter when it was in court. He said it was contempt for Mr Muleya to render the suspects in the matter innocent before the court pronounces itself. The HRC top management has disassociated itself from sentiments by commission spokesperson, Mwelwa Muleya that ‘the Hatembo siblings are not missing but hiding from the people after their lives’. Commission chairperson, Mudford Mwandenga said he was not privy to the sentiments by Mr Muleya because he was not consulted. Mr Mwandenga said in an interview that the Commission never sat to discuss the issue of the Hatembos and the issuing of a statement. “I  am also hearing about that statement now because I am not aware about that issue. I was not told about all that so I do not even know anything,” Mr Mwandenga said when contacted. Meanwhile, Mr Muleya claimed that preliminary findings by the Commission into investigations involving the alleged abduction of the Hatembo family indicate that the family was not under any form of abduction. Mr Muleya said during investigations, the Commission learnt that the Hatembos were seeking protection from the state and from a third party pursuing them. He said they were not any under any form of abduction. Mr. Muleya said in Kitwe during a workshop that the situation that the Hatembo family were in was that of internally displaced persons on the run from some form of persecution. When contacted, Mr Muleya said he was at a workshop and remained mute after being queried over the matter. He did not reply to messages sent to his phone or return or answer phone calls.