Former president cries foul

Lawyers for the former president Rupiah Banda and his son, Henry, who is being sought by the police to facilitate unspecified investigations, have said they are preparing emergency appeals to international bodies to "halt the unlawful conduct of the government of Zambia".

The alleged unlawful conduct pertains to attempts by the police to get hold of Henry, who is resident in South Africa, "to assist with investigations".

There are vague allusions to his involvement in the privatisation of Zamtel, which has since been reversed. He has been cast as a fugitive and police have instigated an Interpol alert for his arrest. More recently Zambia has been trying to persuade the South African government to repatriate him. But in the absence of specific charges, SA does not feel obliged.

Inspector-general of police Stella Libongani has said disclosure of the charges would jeopardise investigations and Henry would be told once he presented himself. In the sequel, the lawyer for the Bandas, Robert Amsterdam, this week accused the government of Zambia of conducting a political witch-hunt against opponents under the guise of "anti-corruption".

"These unspecified allegations against Henry Banda are politically driven and without foundation. It is clearly not a genuine investigation," Amsterdam said. He described the accusations as bogus and said they changed daily. He said they were part of a wider campaign to persecute the former president, his party and the political opposition at large.

"As we have seen from attempts to dissolve the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy and the repeated arrests of the opposition party leadership, there are elements within the highest levels of the governing Patriotic Front party which seek to return Zambia to a one-party state," he charged.

"This charade is an embarrassment to Zambia's legal system and should not be tolerated. Most Zambians can see right through these fabricated charges and trials-by-headline ... Make no mistake, democracy and the rule of law are under attack in Zambia today."

But the crackdown continues and recently extended to the armed forces with the arrest on March 29 of the former commanders of the army, the airforce and the Zambia National Service (ZNS). The Army's Lieutenant-General Wisdom Lopa, his air force counterpart, Lieutenant-General Andrew Sakala and Lieutenant-General Anthony Yeta for the ZNS have been charged with theft involving about $300000 meant for defence operations around the time of last year's election.

They are on bail pending a court appearance. They will not be the first in court. Their arrests followed closely the confirmation by the Lusaka High Court of a four-year jail sentence on Lieutenant-General Geojago Musengule, the last commander of the army under President Frederick Chiluba. He had been convicted by a magistrate's court of irregularly awarding contracts to a Lusaka company when he was in charge.

He was in the first group of four former commanders to be charged for various corruption-related offences under the anti-corruption drive of the late president Levy Mwanawasa. Many of their cases are still in the courts pending the outcome of appeals against conviction. New cases continue to enter the court system as ex-government officials and opposition figures walk the tightrope.

This week, former education minister Dora Siliya pleaded not guilty to two counts of abuse of authority in the Lusaka Magistrate's Court.

Maxwell Mwale, the former minister of mines, was re-arrested within three hours of his being discharged by a court on March 29.