CHIEF SHOT

This is the second time that an attempt on his life has been made.

,n 201 he was forced to flee the palace a day after his installation and sought refuge in Mbala when his palace was set ablaze by suspected rivals to the throne.

Both Luapula Province Police Commissioner Elias Chushi and family members confirmed the development to the Daily Nation yesterday though Mr Chushi could not give details other than the fact that he had received the report.

“Yes, I have received that report. Apparently, there have been succession wrangles in that chiefdom and the person who was shot at is one of those in contention for the throne,” Mr. Chushi said.

The chief’s nephew, Moses Mwape, explained that the traditional leader’s assailants had trailed and waylaid him after he went to make a phone call at a spot where the community have access to the mobile phone network before shooting him using a muzzle loader.

The chief was left in a pool of blood and his assailants sped off.

“They trailed him to the spot where he had gone to make a phone call and shot him once in the chest using a homemade gun and then sped off in a white vehicle. Doctors at the hospital could not operate on him immediately upon his arrival because his blood pressure was too high. They only managed to do so this morning (yesterday) and they retrieved four marbles from his body,” Mr. Mwape said.

He said the chiefdom had become a hotspot for attacks since 2016 and accused the police of failing to deal with the perpetrators despite cases being reported. “It is not yet clear who could have attempted to kill him but we know that it is the same people who lost their claims to the chieftaincy. These are people who are working with a former goYernment official who wants to impose a weak individual so that they can be harvesting Mukula and manganese deposits.

“When my uncle was attacked in 2016, the police did not do anything until he was forced to go into hiding in Mbala. Another attack was launched on those who supported him shortly after that and most of the victims were hospitalised but still nothing was done. Right now, we would have been talking about my uncle being killed but still, the police don’t seem to be moved by the development,” Mr. Mwape complained.

On July 18, 2017, Senior Chief Milambo told the Daily Nation that his life and that of his close relatives were under threat because there were people who were plotting to kill him.