By OLIVER SAMBOKO
Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu was yesterday at pains to explain the deaths of two prospective Correctional Service Officers who died during a recruitment stampede.
Mr Mwiimbu, who was responding to questions after rendering a Ministerial statement on the death of two people during the pre-running exercise to identify recruits, told Parliament that the tragedy came as surprise to government but the police could not arrest anyone at this moment until investigations were concluded.
This attracted sharp reaction from several Members of Parliament from the opposition who accused Mr Mwiimbu of trivializing a serious issue especially that relatives to deceased were still mourning.
Leader of opposition in Parliament Brian Mundubile said it was unfortunate that Mr Mwiimbu who was a very senior member of government would trivialize a very serious matter.
He said Mr Mwiimbu should have realised that there were families that were grieving, adding that the opposition had expected that the Minister would take the issue with the seriousness it deserved, especially that the deaths were caused by officers under his charge.
And opposition Chief Whip Stephen Kampyongo said it was sad that instead of giving hope to the bereaved families, the Ministry of Home Affairs was politicizing the issue and self-praising on the recruitment of correctional officers.
And member of Parliament for Chama South, Davison Mung`andu, queried the Minister why the police had not made any arrests in the matter considering that the preliminary postmortem reports had confirmed some form of harm was inflicted on the deceased persons.
And in a Ministerial statement to Parliament, Mr Mwiimbu who named the victims as Mubanga Chileshe aged 30, and 28-year-o Stanley Siwale, stated that the two were among the shortlisted candidates attending interviews for recruitment as warders in the Zambia Correctional Service in Kabwe district.
He said Police have opened an inquiry into the death of the two after postmortem preliminary results indicating some form of violence.
