Mundubile’s Justice System

🇿🇲 READER OPINION | Mundubile’s Justice System

Yesterday, The People’s Brief carried remarks by Presidentiàl candidate Brian Mundubile following what he described as a failed attempt to visit jailed PF official Raphael Nakachinda at a correctional facility. In the statement, Mundubile lamented delays in accessing his client before delivering a political message that has since stirred debate across the country.

“The freedom that you are looking for, the freedom for Nakachinda, for Lusambo, for Malanji, for Bowman and everybody else who is behind bars, will only come when government changes,” he declared.

That statement may have excited sections of the opposition base. Politically, it was probably intended to reinforce a narrative that former PF officials are victims of state persecution. But legally and democratically, it opens a far more dangerous conversation that Zambia must approach with caution.

The statement indirectly suggests that freedom does not lie in the courts, evidence, appeals, or constitutional safeguards, but in political victory. This is where the problem begins. Once politicians start presenting elections as the pathway to freedom from criminal proceedings, the line between justice and political power starts collapsing. It creates the impression that court outcomes are tied to who controls State House rather than what the law says.

Ironically, this is the exact concern many Zambians had during the Patriotic Front era. The PF government was repeatedly accused by critics, civil society organisations, and opposition leaders of using state institutions against rivals. Today, for senior figures linked to that same political establishment to openly frame justice as something dependent on regime change raises uncomfortable contradictions.

There is nothing wrong with demanding fair treatment for accused persons. Every citizen, regardless of political affiliation, deserves access to legal counsel, a fair trial, and protection from abuse of process. If prison officials indeed blocked access to a lawyer without lawful justification, that deserves scrutiny. But the proper constitutional response is legal challenge, not political messaging that portrays elections as the only route to liberty.

Courts are not supposed to function like revolving doors that open or close depending on which party wins power. A healthy democracy depends on maintaining public confidence in judicial independence, even when outcomes are unpopular. The moment citizens begin believing that convictions are temporary political inconveniences waiting to be reversed by elections, respect for the justice system begins to erode.

There is also a wider political risk in the message being communicated. To some voters, such statements may sound less like a defence of justice and more like an assurance that political allies facing corruption or abuse-related charges will be protected under a future administration. That perception becomes particularly sensitive in a country where anti-corruption messaging played a central role in the 2021 transfer of power.

Zambia’s democracy cannot afford a future where every election becomes a struggle over who controls prosecutions, prisons, and acquittals. The country must move beyond politics where institutions appear tied to personalities and ruling parties. Otherwise, each change of government simply becomes another cycle of retaliation and protection.

If opposition leaders genuinely believe certain prosecutions are flawed, then the strongest response is to defeat those cases in court through evidence and law. That is how constitutional democracies mature. Freedom secured through legal principle strengthens institutions. Freedom framed as a reward for political change weakens them.

By Rodney Mwila

Rodney Mwila is a law student and governance commentator with interest in constitutional law, democracy, and public accountability.

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