By RABECCA CHIPANTA and CHUSA SICHONE –

. SAMPA

MATERO Member of Parliament Miles Sampa yesterday escaped lynching from an agitated mob, forcing him to abort his Press conference scheduled for Kitwe’s Moba Hotel.
He was intercepted at the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola and only got spared when alert Police officers swiftly moved in and told him to stay on the plane.
Copperbelt Police chief Charity Katanga confirmed the violence that ensued following the interception of the Matero lawmaker at the Ndola airport.
Ms Katanga said the confusion was caused by the group which did not want Mr Sampa to disembark from the Proflight plane he was on.
“There were some suspected cadres at the airport that had crowded the airport waiting for Mr Sampa’s plane to arrive from Lusaka.
“The Police were later informed that there was a presence of cadres and they advised passengers aboard the plane to wait so that they could be on the ground in case there were any security concerns,” she said.
Meanwhile, Patriotic Front (PF) youths in Lusaka have charged that the resignation of Mr Sampa is good riddance.
Addressing party officials in Kabwata yesterday, PF Lusaka Province youth chairperson Kennedy Kamba said the ruling party was not shaken by Mr Sampa’s resignation as the Matero lawmaker was not a factor.
Mr Kamba wondered why Mr Sampa opted to hold his Press briefing in Kitwe instead of his constituency in Lusaka.
He said Mr Sampa was voted Matero MP because of the PF’s popularity and not as an individual, adding that he would have lost the election if he had contested on the ticket of a different political party.
In another development, Mr Kamba warned people in Kabwata Constituency against positioning themselves as the PF’s preferred candidates in this year’s Parliamentary elections because no one had been adopted yet.