By CHUSA SICHONE –
THE Government has refuted suggestions that State House is dictating who should be allowed to visit incarcerated United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema in prison.
Chief Government Spokesperson Kampamba Mulenga said yesterday that State House had no hand in deciding who visited Mr Hichilema or any other incarcerated person as such decisions were the preserve of the correctional authorities in line with their regulations.
“Mr Hakainde Hichilema, or any other suspect or prisoner, is visited by people on a daily basis with permission from prison authorities and they do not pass through State House to request for such authority,” Ms Kampamba said.
Mr Hichilema is being held for treason, along with five others, with trial scheduled to open today after he and his co-accused pleaded innocent to the charge in Monday’s plea.
In a statement issued in Lusaka, Ms Mulenga said that former Nigerian Head of State Gen Olusegun Obasanjo and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, two internationally eminent persons who have visited Mr Hichilema in recent weeks, had only indicated their intentions to President Edgar Lungu when they called on him in keeping with diplomatic etiquette.
Diplomatic etiquette involved, among other things, international dignitaries indicating their programmes to the host Governments.
Ms Kampamba said the gesture by Mr Obasanjo and Ms Scotland to indicate their intentions to President Lungu did not amount to them seeking authority from their chief host.

MULENGA

Ms Kampamba, who is Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, appealed to the media to always cross-check facts with the relevant authorities before publishing stories to avoid misleading and misinforming the public.
She said the Government valued the role of the media in nation building and it was for the media to straive to remain factual, ethical and professional.
Mr Hichilema and five others have been charged with one count of treason , with trial expected to commence in the Lusaka High Court today.