By CHILA NAMAIKO and PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
THE Government has welcomed the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lillian Siyuni to enter a nolle prosequi in the treason charges against United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema and five others.
Chief Government spokesperson Kampamba Mulenga said the Government respected the decision made by the DPP, which meant freeing Mr Hichilema and his five co-accused party members.
Speaking at a joint media briefing at her office yesterday attended by Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya and Special Assistant to the President Amos Chanda, Ms Mulenga reiterated that  the Judiciary was an independent institution working without any interference.
“What has happened today (yesterday) where the DPP entered a nolle prosequi shows Government has no interference in the Judiciary because it makes its own decisions,” she said.

MULENGA

Ms Mulenga, who is Information and Broadcasting Services minister, said the country had to move forward and that the Government was happy with the outcome of the decision made by the DPP.
She, however, clarified that contrary to assertions peddled by some sections of society, the Government was not under pressure to release Mr Hichilema and that such claims were a falsehood.
She said there was no way the Government could have been pressurised when the matter involving Mr Hichilema was a court case and that there was no ‘underhand’ from the Government on the treason charge against the opposition leader.
Mr Chanda reiterated that President Edgar Lungu was committed to ensuring good governance and upholding the tenets of democracy while working without interfering with the operation of the Judiciary.
The Presidential spokesperson said judges made independent decisions to arrive at their judgments and it was uncalled-for, for some people to insinuate that there were underhand methods in the treason case of Mr Hichilema.
He reiterated that Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland visited Zambia as part of her sub-region visit which started with Uganda, and took advantage to visit the UPND leader at Mukobeko Maximum Correctional Facility to help champion matters of dialogue.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have welcomed the entering of a nolle prosequi by the State which saw Mr Hichilema freed from detention.
Chief Mukuni of the Toka-Leya speaking people in Southern Province who had been attending court sessions since the arrest of the six, described the move to discharge the six as ‘baptism of politics’.
He called for dialogue in the nation and urged people not to be talking against each other.
Chief Mukamambo III of the Soli-speaking people of Chongwe welcomed the move by the State to save Hichilema and others from continued detention.
Chief Hamusonde of the Tonga-speaking people of Monze in Southern Province, said he was happy that Mr Hichilema who was incarcerated together with his brother Hamaleka Hamusonde and four others were now free.
Hichilema ‘s wife, Mutinta, broke down as she was being helped to walk out of the courtroom while some other family members and supporters also shed tears of joy.