THE labour movement believes that it is possible for former President Banda to lose his immunity from prosecution but that the process should be handled cautiously to avoid setting a bad precedent.
Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary general Roy Mwaba said it is in the interest of the nation and transparency that the allegations of plunder levelled against the former head of State are cleared.
Mr Mwaba said there have been numerous allegations of plunder levelled against Mr Banda which need to be cleared.
Mr Mwaba said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that ZCTU supports calls to remove the immunity of Mr Banda so that he can defend himself over allegations that corruption in the MMD government was carried out under his directive.
He said the Patriotic Front (PF) government should exhaust all options before deciding whether or not to table a motion in Parliament to lift the immunity of former President Banda.
“The issue of removing the immunity on any former President is a sensitive one but it is also part of the democratic process and good governance of any country. There are so many allegations pointing to President Banda. We are happy that President Sata has instituted commissions to probe some of these corrupt activities committed by former leaders in the previous government,” Mr Mwaba said.
He said Government should wait for the reports of the commissions of inquiry before tabling the motion in Parliament to lift Mr Banda’s immunity.
“We are eagerly waiting to hear the findings of the National Pensions Scheme Authority, Zambia Revenue Authority, Zambia National Building Society, Zamtel, Finance Bank and many other commissions of inquiry that have been instituted by President Sata to investigate corruption in the former MMD government.
“We should study these findings carefully and see if they will point to former President Banda being involved in corruption,” Mr Mwaba said.
And former Commissioner in the Willa Mung’omba Draft Review Commission John Mambo said Parliament should proceed and lift the immunity of the former head of State if the commissions of inquiry reveal overwhelming evidence of impropriety and corruption on his part.
Bishop Mambo, who is also former Church of God regional overseer for eastern and southern Africa, said calls to remove former President Banda’s immunity are welcome and should be supported by all well-meaning Zambians who support the fight against corruption.
He said all former leaders in the MMD government who, have been cited for plunder of national resources should be arrested and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to would- be offenders.
“I think it will be unfair to the Zambian people to allow President Banda to go without being probed. There are various allegations that have been made against him which need to be cleared,” Bishop Mambo said.
He said he is disappointed that some leaders in the former MMD government allegedly abused resources, without considering the suffering of the majority of Zambians.
Bishop Mambo, however, cautioned that lifting Mr Banda’s immunity would set a bad precedent as all former heads of State might be subjected to prosecution over the decisions they made while in office.
Recently, President Sata said the crusade against corruption would be done without malice or witch-hunt and would be impartial because he does not believe in selective justice.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Roy Mwaba was a campaign manager for RB why change now. You should be likewise investigated over ZCTU plunder of resource and locked
stupid roy and zctu. just shut up. we dont need your advice or observations you sell out. by the way, who do you represent, rb or the workers he stole from? you moron.
Roy u are right but this Bishop Mambo is speaking from his bedriden situation. The man has been sick for a long time and he is sadly in his last stage, you may wish to know what I mean. It will be nice to focus more on his health, pray for forgiveness to God for hiding in Chuch when he was busy with the forbiden fruits. Sorry old man but its the truth
Some pf kaponyas insist Roy was pro MMD and Banda, so what? What is important is that any circumstances change and if now Ryb has seen that RB was wrong why continue supporting him? Pf must stop identifying individuals who never supported them with a view to punish them. For goodness sake people we are in a democracy where there are no permanent enemies. Sata said we should forget the past and how people insulted during campaigns yet some of these foolish pf blind cadres are hoping that he must kill his opponents.STOP thinking like wizards and witches who don’t forgive.
Don you are so illmannered that you can even find pride in discussing the health of your friend. You are very childish. What you are forgetting is that no one chooses to be sick, tomorrow it will be you. We all know that ugly Roy was an MMD vuvuzela who lost all his brains for whatever MMD was giving him. Such people are a danger in leadership but you Don have chosen to discuss the health of someone instead of the real issues. May God deliver you.
roy you are a fool, just shut your dirty mouth you mmd cadre. remember that you are under surveillance and we shall surel get you and finish you. you hav failed to better the conditions of service for government workers and you are still backing like a mad dog. you easily forget were you came from. a primary school teacher at nangongwe basic in kafue. i think your family and wife shud be advising you correctly *****
If every former President’s immunity will be removed so easily why don’t we just deal with it in this constitution now and remove the immunity clause completely as it really doesn’t mean a thing at all anymore. It’s more of nonsense than a privilege…
i agree with you Mwamoneni,lets remove this rubbish clause.And will make presidents be responsible since they will know that for things wrongly done while in office,they will face the law.
All those condemning the secretary generals support and working with the MMD as government of the day are just not thinking right.Today the PF is in power and all the civil servants and their union leaders must support them and work closely with them to make sure that they represent their members well.They cant support the MMD, the UPND or any other party in the opposition.When the PF leaves power,they should not expect the support from these cardres coming their way.One day these liers will not be there.which ever party that wins will have the support of the civil servants and their leaders.Not everyone will be PF or MMD zambians are divergent and wiil remain united.these tribal sentments we are now being exposed to must come to an end.
Correct Mwamoneni. Our constitution should only provide for immunity of the president only when he is still serving. After his term is gone, his immunity should automatically cease. This way presidents will ensure that they conduct government business in the most honest way to avoid being prosecuted in future. Our problem is that we just adopt any st&^*d clauses we find in western constitutions without considering whether it does add value to us. We can’t learn and adapt our constitution even after using constitutions for almost 50 years since independence. We continue using the borrowed clauses that are flawed in our context. The major problem is that Sata also wants to enrich his clan through corruption and so will not allow such clauses in the constitution.
Ladies and gents, we should learn from other countries. Recently in Israel there former President. was jailed, so was Jack Chirac of France. Burlesconi of Italy also has some issues to sort out with the law. The point is, being a president of a country does not, and must not make one above the law. The Clause on immunity must be limited only to those things where the president acted in good faith and according to the law of the land. Corruption, theft, misuse of resources and the like are clearly against the laws of our land and no one should be immune to prosecution over these.
Am not a PF member but respect the will of the majority and support the government of the day. From the blogs and discussions with a cross section of society, I have come to discover that there is a lot of bitterness in the opposition especially UPND supporters, These guys hail insults at a slightest engagement. Contrary to MMD, who are more or less subdued and in shock. Upnd supporters have become less clear in the messege they carry and more vocal at condemning PF. The PF supporters are of course disorientated btu overexcited of being in power. Though HH has become much more difficult to sell, his supporters help less as they agravate the situaion by resorting to unsavoury language. Bitterness was correct sum up by Kambwili. I will not be surprised if chipimo wins the hearts of the youth
agree with you, could not have put it better myself
I think that is why he removed the abuse of office ,what was his motive, just to plunder and go scotfree, what a joke you know leaders need to be very carefull when given chance to lead ,when you oppress the poor God comes to judge
WE NEED A NEW ANTI CORRUPTION LAW PERIOD
I agree with Mwamoneni and C. Mulenga, The office of the president has a lot of powers such that to be completely innocent of corrupt allegations after one leaves office is almost like trying to find an ocean without water. Every subordinate work under the authority of the appointing authority, so corrupt accusations on ministers will by common sense automatically imply that the president authenticated whether he did it or not and therefore corrupt.In Nyanja we say ” chimutu chikakula sichilewa nkhonya” Meaning “when the Heard is big, it can not avoid punches” Strictly speaking i don’t see any president sustaining the immunity for being corrupt free even, state house is being renovated without tender procedure. Mr Satas immunity will be lifted to defend himself tommorow.
ZaChioni zoon !!!
On a blog like this one .Can you tell me a concrete criteria you are using to identify which party a blogger belongs?. Any one can say anything depending on the weather.
JOB, I dont think Zachisoni has any criteria he is using. If people speak against Policy or express views contrary to a campaign does not mean bitterness. I think he needs a new definition in his vocabulary, Patriotism. You cannot discourage people to express their view or opinions in a manner they see fit. This is a Blog!!
Only a fool can ignore how UPND cadres react to well meaning pronouncements from the govt of the day(pf)They are very bitter as if they won the elections and PF stole it from them.This is the criteria JOB.U shall know them by there comments,their unwarrented critisizm,ever bitter not knowing what to say but always insuilting and many more things that u know yourselves.
Ok,why are we still hung up on who belongs to which party,of what consequence is it to rhe matter at hand.the actual problem is that we all know that the man might have stuckn his hand in the cookie jar but what do we have to prove it?
What are we saying of our rule of law,or do we not understand what its actual worth is to us.cos if we did know what it is,we’d actually apply the pressure where its due.there are laws and we have investigative units.we live with them,
We know them,and we know what they need to arrest these “criminals” behind bars.all this noise won’t do that for you. I forgot how lazy,you want results yey you can’t even begin to see how you are a factor in this whole mess
let the ruling party not be allergic to criticism (of course contructive) and not see any thing contrary as sour grapes.zambia is a democracy.The issue of lifting of former presidents immunity must not be rushed because even the current one will face our wrath one day when he leaves office.level headedness is indeed imperative
RB’s immunity will NEVER be removed