Chief Mukuni was distressed by Tayali’s gassing accusations, court hears

A CHIEF investigations officer has told the Lusaka Magistrate Court that Chief Monokalia Mukuni of the Toka Leya people of Livingstone reported to him that he was emotionally distressed by the remarks made by Chilufya Tayali on his Facebook page called EEP president Chilufya Tayali.

Mr. Steve Chongo, currently based at Serenje police station testified before magistrate Sylvia Munyinya that on November 14, 2022, while on duty at Zambia Police Force Headquarters, he was assigned with an inquiry file to investigate the allegedly crime of harassment utilising means of electronic communication contrary to section 69 Act 2 of 2019 of the Cyber Security and Crimes Act.

Mr. Chongo told the court that Chief Mukuni was accused of having coordinated and funded the gassing crimes.

Mr. Chongo was testifying in a matter, Tayali was dragged to court for alleging that Chief Mukuni is the brainchild of gassing which rocked the country between 2019 and 2022.

“Acting on the inquiry, I copied the link from the Facebook page for Tayali and submitted it to our forensic department for forensic analysis, extraction and preservation. This was worked on by Bernard Fundi, who confirmed that the video was active and valid on the internet. I was familiar with Tayali for over two years because he is a public figure I have been following on Facebook where he appears,” he said.

Mr. Chongo said he also went to Golden Peacock where the accused alleged that Chief Mukuni was staying during the period our head of State, President Hakainde Hichilema was in incarceration

“I talked to the deputy hotel manager Quinn Gong, she confirmed that Chief Mukuni is their client. She confirmed that during 2017, Chief Mukuni lodged at their hotel in January, March and October. I came to realise that Chief Mukuni never lodged there during the period the head of State was in prison between April 11 and August 27, 2017,” he said.

He said the first case of gassing was in 2019 in December and investigations proved that there was no gassing in 2017.

“I extended my investigations to Kabwata Police Station where the accused alleged in the video that he was arrested together with a team of security men, ex commandos at Kabwata in April 2017. My findings were that Tayali was arrested for a different charge, libel while the security men he alleged were also detained for a different charge of obstruction of police,” he said.

Mr. Chongo said further investigations from the House of Chiefs showed that there is only one Chief Mukuni Munokalya Siloka.

“I came to look at the evidence I had gathered, I was convinced the utterances made against Chief Mukuni caused emotional distress because they were not true. I came to officially charge and arrest the accused person for the subject offence,” he said.

Trial continues on February 20, 2024