OPPOSITION UPND vice president Geoffrey Mwamba was yesterday prevented from leaving the country after the Immigration Department withdrew his diplomatic passport.
Mr Mwamba, popularly known as GBM, was forced to surrender his diplomatic passport by immigration officials at Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport yesterday afternoon.
The former Kasama Member of Parliament (MP) was apparently on his way to South Africa.
Immigration Department director general Moola Milimo who confirmed in an interview yesterday said the former Defence Minister would be allowed to apply for an ordinary passport like any other citizen.
“There were speculations earlier in the day that Mr Mwamba was detained at the airport for using the document which he did not qualify,” he said.
However, Mr Milimo said the former MP was just asked to surrender his passport before returning home.
“We did not detain him; we just withdrew his diplomatic passport this afternoon because he is no longer a minister. In this regard, he is free to apply for an ordinary passport just like any other citizen.
“I must assure you that it will absolutely replaced but he must apply and follow the process that everyone follows because he is not a minister,” Mr Milimo said.
Mr Mwamba left Government in 2013 before joining UPND in July this year although he could not surrender his diplomatic passport.
Meanwhile, UPND candidate for the Lubansenshi parliamentary by-election Patrick Mucheleka yesterday allegedly failed to respond to police summons owing to a hitch involving his lawyers.
Police in Luwingu had summoned Mr Mucheleka to assist with investigations on the assault of Luwingu district commissioner Patrick Chanda by suspected cadres.
Northern Province acting commissioner of police Luckson Sakala, said Mr Mucheleka’s lawyers allegedly lost their way to luwingu district in Northern Province and instead found themselves in Isoka in Muchinga Province.
According to a report filed at Luwingu central police station by the UPND campaign manager for the forth coming September 24 by-election, the lawyers only found out they were in a wrong district after arriving and asking if they were in Luwingu.
The proxy who reported to the police on Mr Mucheleka’s behalf promised that he would with his lawyers in tow report to the police station at 08:00 hours today.
GBM should select stubbornness. I would surrender a diplomatic passport even before it is issues to me.
@Nostradamus..
GBM should have been left alone! The diplomatic passport which was supposed be grabed is Chishimba kambwili’s,,,, the man has never been diplomatic in his whole life
Primitive PF govt, why didn’t they ask him to hand it back way before his departure date…thry chose to embarrass him; for what?
Stupid Lawyers ………..cant find their way to Luwingu sure?????
This should have been done the day Fat Albert ceased to be minister. Immigration you need to be alert!
Politics is Zambia even government workers behave like cadres. What was the point they should have procedures in place which they would have given him an ordinary passport and withdraw the diplomatic one. Why wait for him to travel. Tomorrow he will be ur Boss and the same guy who withdrew the passport will be busy running up and down to apologize so the he does not loose his job.
Ba PF what goes around comes around. You don’t own Zambia???? Ur time will come
lost their way? Funny upnd.
Stupid Lawyers who don’t even know the map of Zambia can defend their client/s properly.
Stupid Lawyers who don’t even know the map of Zambia cant defend their client/s properly.
UPND doesn’t know Zambia? Quiet embarrassing for these UPND lawyers. That is why we say UPND doesn’t know anything about this country. Foolish UPND party lawyers!
Real politics at work. The hunter has become the hunted. This is what follows after political realignment. If it is realignment for the better, so be it.
Ceased to be a Minister mu 2013 and you decide to withdraw it now, and that when he is on his way out of the country? How many times has he been in and out of the country since 2013? They could not wait to grab it upon his return? I believe this was meant to embarrass the man… Ba PF mwaloba ilyauma.
This is long overdue
He was supposed to have surrendered long before now….. thats being stupid really……. you have to wait till you are embarrassed at airport that bane teimwe bachilolo nomba….. Long overdue
This shows how incompetent our civil service and security wings are. Even if I don’t like GBM but this is utter stupidity on the part of the immigration for them to wait untill now to grab a passport. Mr Moola who says you can only have a diplomatic passport when you’re a minister? I believe a man like Kavindele, HH, Nawakwi, Miyanda etc must be issued with one also because that shows that we value our leaders even if we don’t always agree with them. The truth of the matter is the immigration is being used by the powers that be to humiliate GBM. Yes you have the prerogative of withdrawing his passport but this must be done in an orderly manner. Did you notify him?
What about GBM, why did he not surrender that document on his own when his circumstances changed. He waited for his inconvince.
The issue of incompetence does not arise. The issue here is responsibility. GBM is a reponsible man and should have taken responsibility to hand over the document that he was no longer entitled to. I believe a diplomatic passport is not a document for life it changes according to circumstances. There is no reason why our civil service and security wings should be wasting tax payers money following up a responsible person like GBM when they should be investigating criminal cases and protecting our country and its citizens.
….the baffling issue here is the manner and the timing of the revocation of the document…GBM has been in and out of the country using the same passport and the same immigration officers allowing him to use it….if this was done the first time GBM wanted to travel out after resigning as minister and after having been told to surrender the document….or if it was grabbed off him on his way back……this fuss would not have been there….the guy had paid for the flight for heaven sake….
…its like the officers going to his home at 02 to demand for the passport…
Well done GRZ.
A diplomatic passport is a “privilege”…TO SERVE THE ISSUING GOVERNMENT
Not a RIGHT!
I disagree. It’s not about serving the issuing Government. What about leader of the opposition in Parliament, Sports personalities etc? Timing was ill conceived in my view.
@ Justin Weissbach
Where did you find definition “issuing government”? I always believed that the issuing authority was Government of the Republic of Zambia which is not subject to political party internal squabbles.
GBM tomfwa pantu isambililo tapaba…paba fye ichuma….
It is GBM’s responsibility to surrender the passport immediately alekele ukuba miniter… Nomba bu pompwe bwakwe tomfwa. Lyonse balemuchitako remind specially lilya aile mu kumona am new trucks. He was reminded to surrender the passport but only promised to do that as soon as he returned, & thus he was given that tolerance…
Malibu yakuiletelela. Chintomfwa aile namafi ku buko…..Eifi fitala…
GBM ,school is very important . You even abused a diplomatic passport.
ba PF trying to settle political scores is a sign of political immaturity and brings bad Khama.Sata kept using these monkey tricks on RB, he is gone and RB is busy enjoying. The passport belongs to the country and not a party so taking it away because he’s no longer in your party is an abuse of our laws and leaders who harass their opponents never last.
So these people have let this man use a diplomatic passport all this time since he resigned from gov’t the man has visited RSA countless of times and no one raised the issue…who is to blame? when are people going to take responsibility this is what good governance is all about.
Maybe GBM was refusing to hand over Passport, like ba Katema did on Govt vehicle until it was garbed at state house. Maybe Govt was thinking twice to bring him back in the system until he joined UPND is the confidence ceased. Maybe he was being used to gather state info using the diplomatic passport.
Withdrawal of diplomatic passport from GBM is not wrong because that document is intended for individuals in respective portfolios that should have such privilege. However, the time lapse is the concern for withdrawal! How long should it take for relevant office(s) to notice that an action should be taken against an individual after withdraw or removal of an individual from a position. Should it always take the President or a senior government officer to remind the institution or office concerned to take action!
Imigration, imigaration, imigaration, how many times have i called you, please be proffessional in this one your action is unproffesional.
A number of Zambians are using diplomatic passports but they left service years ago. This is why this is seen as political. Its because GBM belongs to the opposition now and it had to be dramatic – nab him as he is about to travel to rub it in! So, they had a good sadistic laugh?!?
KK used to give diplomatic passports to anyone. Even foreigners and terrorists.
Some animals are more superior so let’s not pretend
These immigration people do not have a vision as well.Why act now? someone sent you?
Wife beaters should not have diplomatic passports no matter which party they serve.
Are we in Luwingu? Nope, you are in Mporokoso! kikikikiki
ASYCUDA, those lawyers are scatter brains! They remind me of a comic character known as Jughead Jones. How do you drive to Isoka when they should have gone through Kasama to get to Luwingu? This lack of knowledge of the country is what is causing most of these Zambians grief when they look at the development in the road infrstructure. To them, it is meaningless.
It is good they got lost ba mumbwe wachabechabe aba!
GBM should have surrendered the passport when he resigned as minister of defence, he is such a fool, how can one hold on to the diplomatic passport when you know the condition in which it is issued? ?
On the other hand immigration should have contacted him to return the passport or inform him of the cancellation thereof
GBM is violent so they had to use ukupoka chasendwa kunkonko kunakilila. Ubuchenjeshi bwankonko pungwa tasakamana
President Obama said America is strong because of strong Institutions. Do you wonder why those who get into power punish their predecessors?
Kapokedwe chabe ba Immigration; kupoka sibalesa – awe! As if you did not know where to find him all along; for the past two years sure!
But why was the id!ot holding on to the document all this along? Actually he should be punished for abuse;that shapeless big fat suck!
..this trend of firing…retiring…replacing service chiefs, head of institution any time there is a new govt shall never stop as long as we continue having compromised riffraffs like Milimo…
…withdrawing of the said document may be right but the timing….GBM was going to RSA just for few days…it could have been honourable for Milimo to stand his professional values by suggesting to whoever was giving him instructions that… ‘the document shall be withdrawn immediately when GBM arrives back from SA’…..
How about GBM having values and surrendering government property at the end of his tenure as defense minister? Learn to be level headed!
FAT ALBERT IN TROUBLE ANYWAY GOOD FOR HIM HE IS JUST LIKE A STREET KID SAME PASSPORT TYPE KKKK
Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions if it is to develop. We have continued to see politicians humiliating some institutions and changing rules overnight so that they remain in power till death does them part.
The man is just too dull no wonder they say fortune favors a fool, u were in government but it seems u were not aware of such a procedure sure
It is right for the immigration to revoke the diplomatic passport from GBM has he is no longer in the capacity which allowed him to have it in the first place. However, it is just the wrong timing on our service men in uniforms, they all had to wait fro instructions from state house to grab the passport. This is the problem in Zambia, we are never professional in our dealings and hence people conclude it which hunt even when it is a right thing to do. GBM has used that passport since 2013 when he ceased to be defense minister and surely the immigration know this fact but they could not act until EL calls the shots. I wonder how long it will take for him to acquire a new passport.
The issue of timing does not arise as the man should have done himself a fever by honorably handing in to the relevant authority the document that he was no longer entitled to. If the officers had followed him up he would have said they were harassing him. In short the man has embarrassed himself period.
It is the responsibility of the former Minister to surrender all that is given as entitlement by virtue of Ministerial position once that position is no longer attainable. As and when it is effected, if one fails to abide by the simple Government rules, then what GBM has undergone will come to pass and like always people will cry foul as will link it to the fact that he has crossed over. Obviously one brings attention to themselves and thus more scrutiny arises. GBM should have known better and am sure he is not complaining.
Spot on.
Let others learn to avoid embarrassment. After all they have money to pay for first class.
Where is Nkandu Luo, Freedom Sikazwe, Jean Kapata, ect? Look at how unwise Nkandu Luo you were in choosing ECL and even boasting that ECL was a saleable candidate. Please Nkandu Luo I’m on you in most cases because you are educated as such you should look at things in an educated person point of view and not from a tribalistic point of view. Deep down your heart you knew that HH was better than ECL in January. You just became tribal. I’m sure you have leant a lesson from this.
And you also, what are you talking about? Naulwala mumutwe iwe Peepe? Just totally off the mark!
What are you talking about you numbskull? Ukusabaila kwati utu alile nsongwa inshabula ukupya!
Those blaming the PF Govt for not having got the Diplomatic passport from the man called GBM are not only being unfair to the PF but also are being unreasonable. These people known as Ministers or whatever you call them are the ones who are supposed to be telling us about the Govt. policies and regulations etc. GBM new very well that when you cease to be a minister you are supposed to surrender your diplomatic passport to the relevant authority (Home affairs) but what does he do, he holds on to it as though it was his property. This is a lesson to all those who hold Govt. property even when you are not entitled to it. The late Sata (MHSRIP) did the same he held on to the Govt. vehicles even though he was no longer entitled to. This foolishly holding on to something you are no longer…
Next is Winter Maize, withdraw his,if he has not handed it over yet.
Years ago when I went to the passport office to renew my passport I found a former cabinet minister who had been told to stand in the queue like every body else. Although he initially protested, he eventually queued up and when he reached the front of the queue he was asked to produce NRCs for both his parents,which he did not have. I wonder if GBM will also be asked to attach copies of his mother’s ID to his application?
wa pya munzi
Two anomalies here, immigration department must have a list of people no longer permitted to hold diplomatic passports and contact them to return them. You have important documents in wrong hands and you just wait for a person to travelled to ambush. How dull! And then GBM also, you know you are not entitled to such a document and you still hold on to it, you should have been a responsible citizen and returned. Typical of government officials, they don’t return or retire anything including impress. Sata himself kept a government vehicle until he was dragged to court
Yes they don’t retire even imprest these ministers. Sata was remanded for going away with a government vehicle after he left MMD.They are all the same!
Mr Winter Kabimba the lawyer, who HH once referred to that he would not hire him even if he was the remaining lawyer, surrendered his diplomatic passport on his own.Now who is GBM to hold on to what he is not entitled to? Its a case of Riches without Wisdom!
What about the diplomatic passport which was issued to Kalusha Bwalya by Chiluba Government? I don’t remember reading anywhere that he has surrendered it. Is he still using it? Was it for life!
If Kalusha’s diplomatic passport has never been revoked by the chief of immigration then it is his to keep. We are discussing GBM having a diplomatic passport not Kalu, please! Kalusha is a footbal hero and a FAZ president who is entitled to a diplomatic passport iwee kabalwe!
Immigration Officer: “Sir, please surrender your passport as you are no longer a minister”
GBM: “Ni passport yanoko chika.la chobe”
Immigration Officer: “Mind you language sir. I am only doing my job”.
GBM: “Wenchushi we pamo naka Lungu. Mukafwafye nobupina bwenu. Fika.la fyenu”
GBM then handed in his passport and left fuming.
@mundetele! Iwe kapuli ka kwa noko, am asking something reasonable and you, a simple PF cadre you answer rubbish! wapalafye wiso wakufyala ubukopo! Musula wakwa noko!
GBM SHOULD BE ADVISED TO DO GCE ‘O’ LEVELS,ENROLL AT UNZA TO UPGRADE HIMSELF.MONEY IS NOT THE END IN ITSELF.A PRESIDENT OR VEEP NEED TO BE WELL EDUCATED AND THERE IS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.
It is by the law of zambia that wen u ar holding a certain position and it comes to an end then u hav to surrender gov’t property u lose nothing.Leader must lead by example,that’s why they ar failing to the country,am every gov’t has learnt a lesson.no is above the law.uukwete amano ala ilula!
When it is time to die some one is going to die want or not,some applies to the post someone may has been holding.They don’t realise that each and everything has got it’s time,they want do things as if we ar still in a colonial system,that’s why they ar’ failing to rule zambia.how do u follow some who knos the regulation or tell him wat to do,that’s “dull”!
Let immigration officers carry their duties.nomba efyo mwamupokelefye naimwe kwati aibile fye wen u kno him.why not wen he returned on his way from SA?
Your corrupt thinking process is why Zambia lags behind. So let him travel on reduced surcharge because he was a minister once? No!
Don’t play with a pig in the mud. You will later notice the pig is enjoying the game as you get dirt.
First he does not want to surrender his membership with PF. now he also does not want to surrender diplomatic passport.