Zambian police have rejected opposition claims that former minister Dr Katele Kalumba was abducted, stating that he was lawfully arrested in Chienge and charged under Zambia’s Cyber Crimes Act over content allegedly intended to humiliate President Hakainde Hichilema.
Police statement#
Police spokesperson Godfrey Chilabi said in a statement that Kalumba was apprehended on 23 September in Chienge, in Luapula Province, and formally charged the following day at Kabwe Central Police Station.
The charge is harassment under Section 22 of the Cyber Crimes Act No. 4 of 2025, linked to content Kalumba allegedly published on 11 August to humiliate the President. Police maintain that Kalumba was lawfully apprehended on 23 September and formally charged the next day at Kabwe Central Police Station.
Opposition response#
The police statement followed opposition assertions that the arrest was an abduction. Muhabi Lungu, secretary general of We Are One Zambia (WOZA) and the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance, said Kalumba’s wife described the arrest as an abduction by heavily armed soldiers and police who did not explain why they were taking him or where.
Lungu said that when the arrest was announced, ruling party supporters dismissed it as fake, which forced the wife to make a recording. He said it was laughable that Kalumba was bundled into a military vehicle in Chienge and driven all the way to Kabwe, in Central Province, only to face charges. He described the journey as fitting a pattern of using jurisdiction as a weapon, a new punishment tactic.
“Dr Kalumba was transferred all the way from Chiengi to Kabwe because a Kabwe resident allegedly complained. So, we can speculate that we will all be arrested and transported to a distant district for prosecution as punishment. Same with Mundubile and Makebi. From Kabwe, now Solwezi,” he said.
The two men he named, treason-accused opposition leaders Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu, were moved from Kabwe to Solwezi, where they appeared in the Magistrates Court on Friday on sedition charges. Lungu said the transfers showed the same law being abused.
He said the continued arrests and clampdown on opponents and critics were meant to stoke fear and silence dissent, with the aim of laying the ground for a third term for the President and making him untouchable. Lungu also accused Zambia’s ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) government of repealing the offence of defaming the President from Zambia’s Penal Code, only to reintroduce it in a stronger and more punitive form through sedition and cyber laws.
“Essentially, if you offer constructive criticism to the President, you are abducted and booked for sedition or cyber harassment,” he said.
He warned that the government’s conduct amounted to the militarisation of politics, with Zambia projected as a constitutional democracy but policed like a military state.
“There is no remorse from the perpetrators of this crackdown. One has to ask: Are these arrests meant to create fear so that the President becomes unaccountable to anyone?” Mr Lungu said.
Ruling party response#
The ruling UPND took a different view. Deputy spokesperson Elvis Nkandu strongly condemned remarks attributed to Kalumba against the President, describing them as regrettable and entirely out of step with constructive national discourse.
Nkandu was referring to a video circulating on social media in which the former minister makes disparaging remarks and issues threats against the President. The video is believed to have been made before the general election.
Citizens are free to express personal views, Nkandu said, but such freedoms must be exercised with responsibility and deep respect for vital State institutions, particularly the presidency. He expressed disappointment that a veteran figure of Kalumba’s stature, a former senior public servant and prominent politician, would resort to disrespectful rhetoric, especially given the history of his relationship with the current administration.
Kalumba was imprisoned for corruption in 2022. President Hichilema pardoned him on medical grounds, and he was released from prison on 1 August 2023. Nkandu said that act of mercy should never be misconstrued as weakness.
“President Hichilema had every opportunity to approach the matter purely from a political perspective, but he instead demonstrated humanity and compassion,” he said.
Nkandu also issued a stern warning against attempts to promote regionalism and tribal divisions. The presidency belongs to all citizens, he said, and political disagreements should never be allowed to erode national unity. Healthy criticism of government policy is welcome, he said, but it should not compromise the dignity of the Head of State. He urged Kalumba to use his extensive political experience to contribute constructively to national development rather than divisive commentary.
