THE JAILER AND THE JAILED: HOW A 1980 TREASON PLOT ENDED IN A 1995 BLESSING
An excerpt from the newly released book: Conversations with Memorable Personalities, Part 2 (2026) by Amos Malupenga, Page 210.
The image below was taken at Lusaka’s St. Dominic’s Major Seminary in December 1995, capturing the baptism of Zambia’s prominent politician Muhabi Lungu’s baby girl, Valepi (in white).
The gathering highlighted a profound “story of the jailer and the jailed”:
Prominent Lusaka lawyer, the late Edward Jack Shamwana (seated on the left in the foreground and the child’s maternal grandfather) had been arrested for treason in 1980 by President Kenneth Kaunda’s UNIP government.
Yet here, former President Kaunda (seated on the right) stood as the godfather – a spiritual and social protector to the grandchild of Shamwana, the man ‘he’ once sentenced to death.
Also pictured are:
• Godmother Hilary Fife (standing behind Dr. Kaunda)
• Muhabi’s sister and now Lusaka High Court Judge, Bubile Grace Lungu Shonga (far left in the background)
• The child’s paternal grandparents, Ambassador Mkhondo Lungu and Mrs. Lungu.
Muhabi is married to Shamwana’s niece, Josephine.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE GEN Zs
For my young friends, the GEN Zs, who may be too young to make sense out of this “story of the jailer and jailed”, let me walk you into the past you never experienced.
Further, for those who might have missed my deeply revealing and intriguing conversation with the late Yoram Mumba, discussing the 1980 attempted coup in Conversations Part 1, (2022), you may also benefit from this background information.
So, this “story of the jailer and the jailed” is one of the most powerful narratives of political rivalry, treason, and ultimate reconciliation, in Zambian history.
It centers around Zambia’s founding president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda (the “jailer”), and Edward Jack Shamwana (the “jailed”). Shamwana was a highly prominent Lusaka lawyer.
Here is the breakdown of how their lives collided and ultimately reconciled:
1. The 1980 Treason Plot (The Jailing)
In October 1980, during a highly tense period under President Kaunda’s one-party UNIP government, alert Zambian security forces thwarted a massive coup d’état attempt.
A group of prominent intellectuals, business elites, and foreign mercenaries had conspired to intercept the presidential aircraft, kidnap President Kaunda, and force him to resign at gunpoint.
These included the late businessman Yoram Mumba who was the mastermind, former Bank of Zambia Governor Valentine Musakanya, Pierce Annfield – another prominent lawyer of the time – together with Shamwana, among others.
Shamwana was arrested and identified as one of the primary leaders behind the conspiracy.
• The Judgment: The landmark treason trial of Shamwana and 7 others became one of the most watched legal battles after Zambia’s independence.
In 1983, the High Court convicted Shamwana and others of treason and sentenced them to the mandatory death penalty, a judgment upheld two years later by the Supreme Court in 1985.
• The Commutation: Under immense local and international pressure, President Kaunda commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in 1986.
Shamwana and others spent a decade in the harsh environment of Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe where he frequently accused the prison authorities of torture and sadistic behaviour.
At one point, he even sued the state for abusing and/or denying him his human rights as a prisoner.
2. The 1990 Presidential Pardon
By 1990, widespread anti-government riots in major cities and towns of the country, and economic pressure had forced President Kaunda to initiate drastic political reforms.
In a profound gesture of political goodwill and national reconciliation, President Kaunda issued an absolute and unconditional presidential pardon in July 1990, freeing Shamwana and his co-conspirators.
Remarkably, upon stepping out of prison, Shamwana publicly stated he held “no hard feelings” against the man who had kept him locked away.
3. The 1995 Baptism
The pinnacle of this story occurred five years after Shamwana’s release, in December 1995 at St. Dominic’s Major Seminary in Lusaka.
As earlier mentioned in the excerpt above, Muhabi and Josephine Lungu’s baby was getting baptised. Here, as captured in the photograph, the two former bitter adversaries sat side-by-side in peace—with the former “jailer” (Dr Kaunda) standing as a godfather to the grandchild of the man he had once sentenced to death (Shamwana).
By the time Shamwana died five years later in January 2000, aged 66, he was actively practicing law because Zambia’s legal system subsequently recognised the total erasure of his past conflict when the High Court ruled that President Kaunda’s absolute pardon had legally reset Shamwana’s record as if the treason charge had never happened.
Hope you enjoyed this historical trivia.
It is my direct challenge to you the younger readers to learn your country’s history.
Amos Malupenga
Author
READY TO DIVE DEEPER INTO ZAMBIA’S UNTOLD HISTORY?
If you loved this incredible story, wait until you read the full, jaw-dropping conversations in Conversations with Memorable Personalities, Parts 1 & 2!
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