Thursday, March 28, 2024

Nevers Mumba got a lighter sentence-TIZ

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Dr Nevers Mumba in court
Dr Nevers Mumba in court

Transparency International Zambia has charged that Dr Nevers Mumba received a lighter sentence after he was convicted of abuse of office by the Lusaka Magistrate Court.

TIZ President Reuben Lifuka in a statement said in welcoming the conviction and judgement passed on Dr. Mumba, his organization would like to echo the sentiments passed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that even when they welcome the court ruling, they are worried by the sentence handed to him which they strongly believe will have little or no impact on would be offenders serving in various capacities including those serving in similar positions that were once held by Dr. Mumba.

“This should not be looked at as an isolated case, it speaks to the weakness of the systems we have in place as country to address the issue of corruption, especially in the form of abuse of authority at the highest levels. Even now, we have public officials abusing the authority entrusted to them by virtue of the offices they occupy. We have a very weak sanctioning environment as a country that can deter abuse of authority,” Mr Lifuka said.

“This is not the first we have seen someone being convicted for abuse of office and we feel that cases such as Dr. Mumba’s may not necessarily act as a deterrent. The delays in the investigations, prosecution and final disposal of such cases do not serve well at all to stop this vice.”

Mr Lifuka said TIZ has been categorical on such cases that there should be a systemic process that will help the country fight corruption and abuse of office and not going by it selectively.

“A holistic systemic approach to fighting the abuse of office existing in many public institutions will be more meaningful and will yield better results than individual arrests which in most cases don’t even result in convictions. As TI-Z we do not take pleasure in seeing people going to jail, but on matters involving abuse of one’s office for private gain, we strongly condemn and feel our society needs to have leaders who demonstrate good leadership and plant good seeds of integrity, accountability and transparency and also lead by example,” he said.

“This is not a story in itself, the issue is about the weakness of our systems which allows for such abuse of office.

This should be the topic that we should be addressing and which we are challenging the government to address.”

28 COMMENTS

  1. All stiffer punishment are given to poor Zambians even in the case of taking a bun to eat because of hunger in Zambia.
    Are we all going to serve as VP or be pastors of the church to be given a lighter verdict?

  2. The case took to long considering that Nevers Mumba in between has committed offenses which has been disposed off in the shortest time.

  3. Mbava ya muntu iyo.
    Man of Gold.
    Should have served 8 years, the deceptive conman who wants to be President.
    ONLY IN ZAMBIA!

  4. Yah very right sentence, imagine a felony charge ruled and turned into misconduct charge and not even slapping him with some high class misdemeanor charge. What is so wrong in Zambia kanshi? Even Judges with all the powers entrusted in them, they can’t take corruption or misapproperiation charges very seriously. In this case Never Mumba was facing a felony charge which is seriously punishable by law or atleast a serouly misdemeanor charge involving corruption, but unfortunately this is Zambia where people are not serious and Never Mumba walks away smiling beating the entire judicial system by virtual of his status in society.

  5. The ambit to appeal lies with the DPP.. DPP exercise power without anyone ‘s direction…. TIZ has no locus standi hence just a talkshop….
    therefore ,let no one complain of the sentence

  6. Lifuks is the worst corn man . We know what he did to RB . He got money from RB during presidential campaign and later turned against him. uyo ni sebana wikute .

  7. Can we have details why eric chimesa was fired ? Did he exclude lungu from the corruption sweeping GRZ ? Was he not giving lungu and his hand their commission from the stealing ?

    I think this practice of the president having the privallege to fire anyone with out giving reasons is a cover for corruption….we know how lungu operates ….he gets commission from these corrupt officials and can fire them just on advice of his corruption gang…..he then tells the fired individual to keep silent and enjoy his wealth or if he speaks he will be harrassed by ACC…..

  8. The fight against corruption is an academic exercise.There is no seriousness attached to it.This can be attested to the fact that Auditor General’s report is a document which is not taken seriously by the powers that be.Every year the report produces grey areas in which need attention but there lei’s-fare attitude from people who can prosecute those cases.
    To make matters worse,tabloids like The Post,that were exposing corrupt activities in the nation have been silenced and slaughtered by corrupt elements.Corruption has become a norm and way of living.It will be very difficult to eradicate it.We only need pragmatic leadership in order to face corruption head on.As at now,there is no one who can rise up and fight corruption.

    • It is lungu who will be proven to be the most corrupt leader ever…..his leadership stinks of corruption , zero morals and integrity…lungu is the only leader in the whole world who does not mind being called a corrupt theif everyday…..

    • HH is proven to be the most corrupt thief ever, the insider trader who his worshipers never acknowledge as a thief because he is a god of Namwala.

  9. I hope some teacher or farmer somewhere in village will write to the DPP and complain about the sentencing of Dr Mumba so that the DPP can recall a retrial/appeal against the so called lighter sentence. I hear nowadays they respond quickly to letters sent from concerned villagers. Menawhile Dr Mumba is having the last laugh 😀

  10. Transparency International are right. Nevers must have been punished accordingly just as HH must have been punished by their criminal deed. I hope this organisation called out government for releasing the thief HH too.

  11. The observer why should a poor villager write from a village somewhere, don’t that person have serious personal problems to worry about than this case of Nevers many know little of. Even you if I asked you to provide more details about it you may not. This seems like a ploy by the ruling government to leverage their power against the man thereby pushing him in the corner so he can stop criticizing them or even buy him off. Such cases don’t stick no wonder the lighter sentence, and besides if someone else come to power they might throw out this case.

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