The Editor Zambia
There comes a point when political argument stops being a legitimate contest of ideas and becomes an exercise in deliberately ignoring inconvenient facts staring in one’s face.
Emmanuel Mwamba who is in self-exile and all the time condemning the government appears to have reached that point in his persistent campaign to portray the Government as having fabricated a militia story simply to justify the detention of Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu. 
But there is one inconvenient question that Mwamba and everyone else promoting that narrative must answer: where did the guns come from?
According to reliable authorities, the security operation at a property in Kabulonga resulted in the recovery of military-grade weapons and equipment, including five AK-47 rifles, 60 rounds of ammunition, Uzi weapons, a Zastava pistol, a bulletproof vest and other items.
These are not household objects that can be casually explained away as political memorabilia as self exiled Mwamba is trying to do.
They are weapons associated with organised armed activity. Their mere presence raises legitimate national-security questions that cannot be washed away by repeatedly shouting “fabrication”.
Mwamba has every right to criticise the government. He has every right to question the conduct of the police and defence forces.
He has every right to demand an independent investigation into the death of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya and to insist that every accused person receives due process. Those are legitimate democratic demands.
What is not convincing, however, is the attempt to reduce the entire matter to a simple conspiracy in which the government allegedly invented a militia to arrest its political opponents.
If the weapons were planted, then prove it.
If the police fabricated the evidence, then demonstrate how.
If the firearms belonged to the State and were secretly placed at the property, then produce the evidence.
If there was no militia or armed group, then explain why such a collection of assault rifles, ammunition, and military equipment was allegedly found at the premises.
That is the central issue Mwamba must confront.
It is particularly difficult to understand how anyone can confidently declare the entire case fabricated while ignoring the physical evidence authorities have recovered.
Mwamba therefore needs to stop asking only what the government allegedly did and start asking the other question: what were heavily armed men all connected to Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance/NRPUP doing with AK-47s, Uzi weapons, ammunition and military equipment at that property?
That question is not propaganda but a reasonable question in any serious democracy.
The opposition cannot simultaneously demand that citizens believe every allegation it makes against the government while dismissing every allegation made against itself as manufactured. Democracy cannot operate on such a one-sided evidentiary standard.
There is also a danger in prematurely declaring the case fabricated. Such declarations can undermine the justice process before investigators have completed their work and before the accused have had their day in court.
Mwamba should desist in attempting to make Doubting Thomases of the citizenry when evidence of weapons were genuinely recovered by authorities, meaning those responsible for possessing them must answer for that conduct.
Mwamba should also resist the temptation to act as a prosecutor, judge, and political commentator at the same time.
The question remains painfully simple: Emmanuel Mwamba, if the militia story was fabricated, where did the guns come from?
Zambians deserve an answer.
