Marythar Shimwe
KATIMA MULILO – Constituency councillor for Kongola David Muluti has refuted claims that he was arrested for having violated regulations under the State of Emergency Proclamation Act 9 of 2020.
According to Muluti, the woman employed at his bar was arrested as she sold alcohol in contravention with the Act during the Easter weekend. The politician said he was unaware of the transactions as the alcohol was stored within a locked room to which she had the key, as no alcohol would be sold during the lockdown, information that was known by the saleslady.
She was forced by two men to sell alcohol to them. It was only at a police roadblock where the two men were stopped and found in possession of alcohol that they disclosed as to where they had sourced the alcohol from, explained the councillor.
Mariam Kamwanga, the saleslady who works at the bar said she knew one of the two men who forced her to sell them alcohol, as he is the one who always offloads their stock. He allegedly informed his friend that they should go to her, as he knew Muluti’s bar had alcohol stored in a locked room.
“They came around 20h00 on Sunday asking for alcohol but I sent them away as I was not allowed to sell alcohol to anyone. We therefore kept the alcohol locked up in one of the guest rooms in order to avoid confrontation with people demanding to buy liquor. The two men came back after about an hour demanding for alcohol and claimed police officers would not arrest me. They were already drunk upon their arrival. I sold them four cans of Castle Light and that was my mistake,” she stated.
According to Kamwanga, “upon arriving at the checkpoint, they were stopped and asked for a driver’s licence which they did not have. The police searched their car and found four Castle Light cans, which were not opened. They came back to the shop with the police officers who asked me questions and I showed them the cooldrinks and recharge vouchers that I was selling. They then demanded that I open all the rooms so they could look inside. They took all the alcohol we had in stock and took me and the two men to the police station, I was charged for selling alcohol. I was the only one who was arrested but they never asked the other two men where they got the alcohol that made them drunk.”
“I called the councillor to inform him of what happened as he was not around at the time when I was arrested,” she stated. “Upon arriving at the police station, I was informed to pay N$4 000 which comprised of a fine of N$2 000 which was for the saleslady and the other N$2 000 was my fine as the owner of the shop. I was not arrested as alleged, this is just to tarnish my reputation,” stated Muluti.
Upon enquiry, Deputy Commissioner Evans Simasiku insisted the councillor was indeed arrested at his residence and was not called to the police station as he claimed. He was arrested for contravening the State of Emergency Proclamation Act 9 of 2020 under regulation 11/1 of the Act. A case was opened and he was arrested at his residence in Kongola. His case number is CR6/04/2020 and he was fined N$2 000, stated the deputy police commissioner.