Rupiah Banda May Now Be Prosecuted For Corruption in Zambia

The Zambian Parliament has removed the legal immunity of former President Rupiah Banda to enable the government to take him to court and answer charges of alleged abuse of office and corruption.

The rushed manner in which the motion to remove President Banda’s immunity has left a big cloud of doubt of what the true intentions of the government are.

This also shows that Zambia never learns, as this is the second time that the southern African copper giant is removing the immunity of a former president, with the first case involving late second republican President Fredrick Chiluba.

President Chiluba’s case dragged on for years with the country spending millions of dollars to push the legal battle that ended up in favor of the defendant and a bitter taste in the mouths of Zambians, whose resources could have been used for a better cause like fighting chronic poverty that affects close to 70% of the population.

No wonder many people have condemned this serous action by the Zambian government.

The lifting of President Banda’s immunity comes hardly a day after the high court granted him an injunction to restrain parliament from stripping his protection against legal prosecution.

It must be stated that the removal of legal immunity itself is not bad, but the manner in which it was done leaves a lot of unanswered questions and a feeling that Zambian were never consulted or heard.

According to the ruling Patriot Front (PF), President Banda allegedly used his influence as president to defraud the country of millions of dollars.

Unfortunately, the government has not been clear as to where and how this money was stolen.