Chief Muchinda's palace under siege

…as State security surround the Chief Muchinda’s Palace on suspicion that he is grabing cattle from settlers from Southern Province

GOVERNMENT security agencies, on Saturday morning, surrounded and besieged the palace of Senior Chief Muchinda Kankomba Welala of the Lala people of Serenje for unexplained reasons.

Addressing journalists in Lusaka, Kambwili Royal Establishment Chairperson Paul Bupe, who was flanked by Chief Muchinda, said it was unfortunate that royal family members had been forced to scamper from the palace for fear of their lives and their current whereabouts were still unknown.

Mr. Bupe said the incident happened while the chief was visiting Lusaka after an engagement with Central Province Joint Operations Committee (PJOC) held at the provincial office in Kabwe.

He said in the PJOC meeting, one of the strongest allegations that came out was that the chief had been grabbing livestock from the people of Southern Province who settled in his chiefdom, an allegation the chief and the purported victims have denied.

Mr. Bupe said all this was happening despite the having chief travelled to meet the PJOC in an effort to amicably resolve all allegations raised against him.

He said it had also been alleged that Chief Muchinda mounted barriers to illegally levy motorists, allegations that had not been proven to date despite asking police to book all perpetrators.

But Police in Serenje claimed they had received information from the business sector and the public that there were some youths from Chief Muchinda’s palace who had established an illegal checkpoint, where they were allegedly collecting between K1, 500 and K2, 500 from each truck driver in the area.