By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
EIGHT Ugandan traditional healers have been arrested in Solwezi for unlawful stay in Zambia and illegal practice.
According to a statement released by Department of Immigration public relations officer Namati Nshinka, eight traditional healers from Uganda were arrested for allegedly practising traditional healing programmes in Solwezi without licences.
Mr Nshinka said the Immigration office in Solwezi arrested the eight in an operation conducted on Monday.
The eight are alleged to have entered into Zambia with either no documentation or with inappropriate documentation.
Four of them, including a woman were arrested for not having documentation.
One came into Zambia as a visitor, another had a spouse permit and the other one was holding a cross border permit.
The eighth Ugandan had stayed for a longer period than authorised.
Mr Nshinka said the eight suspects would be taken to court.
He said this should also serve as a warning to members of the public to keep clear of traditional healers who did not have licences from Traditional Heath Practitioners Association of Zambia (THPAZ) as their practice or medicines were not sanctioned by the association and may be harmful to their health.
And the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced a Nigerian business executive Christantus Echebiri, 35, of Roma, Lusaka to a fine of K12,000 or in default eight months simple imprisonment for using a forged passport.
The conviction and sentencing comes barely 12 days after he was fined K7, 000 for unlawful stay, a fine which he paid.
Mr Nshinka said the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court also on the same date convicted and sentenced a Zambian to a fine of K650 or in default two months simple imprisonment for engaging in immigration consultancy without authority contrary to the laws of Zambia.
Gift Mbewe, 28, a resident of Chawama Township was arrested on Monday, February 3, this year when he attempted to acquire visas on behalf of some foreigners despite the fact that he was not a registered immigration consultant, a legal practitioner nor a human resource personnel of any institution.