Ex-Zambian VP Nevers Mumba dismisses report of arrest
Zambia's former Vice President Nevers Sekwila Mumba, who served under President Levy Mwanawasa, during an interview with the Nation at a Nairobi hotel on October 10, 2020.
Lusaka,
Former Zambian Vice-President Nevers Mumba has denied reports of his arrest by authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on political grounds.
Recent media reports have alleged that the former vice-president has been detained for allegedly going to meet former DRC President Joseph Kabila. But in a video posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, the former vice-president dismissed that he was detained, but said that he has been restricted from leaving the country because authorities wanted to establish the purpose of his visit.
"I have received a lot of messages from back home of people expressing deep concern of my safety and my whereabouts. I want to confirm that I have not been arrested, I have been restricted from leaving the country until they do their preliminary investigations," he said in the video shot in a hotel room in the DRC town of Lubumbashi.
"These investigations are about trying to find out what exactly I am doing in this country at such a time when there is heightened political activity in the Congo. As a former vice-president they would like to make sure that I am clear as to why I am here," he added.
He noted that there was nothing he has done that contradicts the provisions of the law in both Zambia and the DRC, adding that his mission in the DRC was a business mission and not political.
He further said he was safe and that the security agencies in DRC were taking good care of him. Mumba served as Zambia's vice-president from 2003 to 2004 under late President Levy Mwanawasa's administration.
