ABOUT THE ARREST OF FAZ OFFICIALS: GENUINE LAW ENFORCEMENT OR MERE WITCH-HUNT?

ABOUT THE ARREST OF FAZ OFFICIALS: GENUINE LAW ENFORCEMENT OR MERE WITCH-HUNT?

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. On 23rd April 2024, four Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) officials were arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC). These were Mr. Andrew Kamanga; the FAZ President, Mr. Reuben Kamanga; the FAZ General Secretary, Mr. Madalitso Kamanga; a member of the FAZ Security Committee, and Mr. Jairos Siame; a member of the FAZ Protocol Committee. The quartet was jointly charged with three counts being (i) Obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 309 of the Penal Code Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia (ii) Obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretences contrary to Section 309 (A) of the Penal Code and (iii) Conspiracy to defraud contrary to section 313 of the Penal Code. On Monday, 6th May 2024, the quartet was summoned back to DEC offices were a fourth charge of giving false information to a public officer, was jointly preferred against them, based on the same allegations.

2. There have been accusations and counter-accusations flying around the media that these charges are frivolous and designed to taint the current crop of FAZ officials so that they can be less appealing to delegates when FAZ goes for an elective Annual General Meeting (AGM) next year. These allegations further state that the Minister of Sports conspired with the Drug Enforcement Commission to undertake this alleged smear campaign, with the objective of increasing the chances of MUZA United Football Club Chairman, Mr. Keith Mweemba to win the FAZ Presidency next year, where it is further alleged that he intends to stand and challenge the incumbent Andrew Kamanga.

3. Do these allegations have any substance to them, or it is a case of the Andrew Kamanga FAZ trying to hide their maladministration and plunder of resources in the local football administration? Does the Minister of Sports or indeed any other individual or group of individuals really have the power and influence to cause a law enforcement agency such as the Drug Enforcement Commission to prefer criminal charges against persons who have not committed any offense? Why are there so many Kamangas at FAZ? Are these people relatives and is Mr. Andrew Kamanga conspiring with his fellow Kamangas to defraud FAZ, at the expense of Zambian football?

4. The above are some of the questions that have been lingering in my mind for the past few weeks ever since Mr. Andrew Kamanga and three other individuals at FAZ were arrested by DEC. And l believe they are the same questions which have been on the mind of every other football loving Zambian out there. So l decided to do some basic digging around in order to separate the smoke from the fire. Suffice to mention that the facts in this matter are readily available in the public domain. Controversy only arises in terms of how these facts are interpreted. Let us review the facts and see if we can arrive at the same interpretation and conclusion.

5. It is a fact that the four criminal charges which have been laid against the FAZ President, FAZ General Secretary and two others, by the Drug Enforcement Commission arise from a letter which the FAZ General Secretary wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts on 3rd January 2024. The letter was titled: AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS – ADVANCE PARTY. The letter has 3 paragraphs. Paragraph 1.0 says “We refer to the above captioned matter, the Association wish to submit names of officials traveling on the Advance Party to go and make preparations for the Africa Cup”. Paragraph 2.0 says “We wish to inform you that Mr. Justin Mumba (the Vice President of the Football Association of Zambia), Messrs Madaliso Kamanga and Jairos Siame (Football Association of Zambia officials) have been appointed to travel on the Advance Party, whose mandate is to ensure that all logistics for the team’s participation in the tournament are in place ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Cote D’Ivoire “. Paragraph 3.0 says “We thank you for your usual assistance and support”.

6. According to the particulars of the alleged offenses preferred by the Drug Enforcement Commission on the quartet, DEC alleges that Mr Madaliso Kamanga and Mr. Jairos Siame are not FAZ officials, and that the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts was misled into buying air tickets and paying per diem allowances to these two individuals who are not FAZ officials, and that out of the trio who travelled to Cote D’Ivoire as a FAZ advance party, only Mr. Justin Mumba, the FAZ Vice President is a FAZ official. So the contention here is on the definition of a “FAZ official”. Who really is a FAZ official? We know for a fact that Mr. Madaliso Kamanga is a member of the FAZ Security Committee, and Mr. Jairos Siame is a member of the FAZ Protocol Committee. But does a member of a FAZ Committee qualify to be referred to as a “FAZ Official”?

7. Well, luckily for our debate, the FAZ Constitution actually defines who a FAZ Official is. On page 4 of the FAZ Constitution, under the heading of DEFINITIONS, a FAZ Official is defined as ” every board member, committee member, referee and assistant referee, coach, trainer and any other person (except players) responsible for technical, medical and administrative matters in the Association …” It appears therefore that by virtue of being members of the Security and Protocol Committees respectively, Mr. Madaliso Kamanga and Mr Jairos Siame are, by definition, FAZ Officials. In fact, according to the FAZ Constitution, even if Mr. Madaliso Kamanga and Mr Jairos Siame were not members of any FAZ Committee, they would have qualified to be “FAZ Officials” merely by virtue of being tasked with administrative responsibilities by FAZ, regarding the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Therefore, Mr. Madaliso Kamanga and Mr Jairos Siame both twice qualified to be referred to as FAZ Officials in the letter that the FAZ General Secretary wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts on 3rd January 2024. Firstly by virtue of being FAZ Committee Members, and secondly by virtue of having been tasked by FAZ to perform administrative duties during the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

8. Therefore, we can safely conclude that the four counts for which the quartet is jointly charged with, being (i) Obtaining money by false pretences contrary to Section 309 of the Penal Code Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia (ii) Obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretences contrary to Section 309 (A) of the Penal Code, (iii) Conspiracy to defraud contrary to section 313 of the Penal Code and (iv) giving false information to a person employed in the public service, are frivolous, vexatious, malicious and without merit whatsoever. That is because there was nothing misleading or false in the letter which the FAZ General Secretary wrote to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts on 3rd January 2024. All the three individuals in the advance party were, by definition, FAZ officials. But this matter does not end here. There are a few more salient issues that l want you to pay attention to. The first issue is the involvement of the Drug Enforcement Commission in making these arrests. All the four alleged offenses above fall under the Penal Code Act, Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia. None of the alleged offenses above fall under the Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 44 of 2010 of the Laws of Zambia, which would give the Drug Enforcement Commission jurisdiction to make arrests and prosecute the matter. So how did DEC come in? Does the fact that Mr. Keith Mweemba, who is alleged to be vying for the FAZ Presidency, worked at DEC as a prosecutor together with the current DEC Director General, Mr. Nason Banda, have any bearing on this DEC overreach and abuse of prosecutorial powers? Is Mr. Nason Banda abusing the authority of his office as DEC Director General to try and propel his former colleague to the FAZ Presidency by soiling the reputation of Andrew Kamanga and his team? Why did DEC get involved in a purely Zambia Police matter?

9. The second salient issue that l want you to pay attention to is the fact that the letter of 3rd January 2024 which was written by FAZ to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Arts and from which all the criminal charges above emanate from, was signed by the FAZ General Secretary and not the FAZ President. In fact, according to the FAZ Constitution and as a matter of fact, the FAZ President is not involved in the day to day operations of the Association. He does not even have an office at the FAZ Secretariat. He only goes to the Secretariat to attend Board Meetings. So why did the Drug Enforcement Commission find it necessary to charge Mr. Andrew Kamanga? Is the DEC Director General, Mr. Nason Banda trying to do a favor for his colleague by soiling Andrew Kamanga’s reputation so that his colleague can have it plain sailing should he stand for the FAZ Presidency at next year’s elective AGM? Is it that only charging the FAZ General Secretary would not have sufficed for purposes of their conspiracy to taint FAZ and portray it as a corrupt organization? Or is it that DEC wanted to drive a particular false narrative in the eyes of the general public by arresting many Kamangas, whom by the way are not related at all? Andrew Kamanga is a Ngoni from Chief Saili of Chipata District, whereas Reuben Kamanga is a Chewa from Chief Change, and Madaliso Kamanga is from Chief Chinunda of Chipangali District.

10. Whatever the case, Mr. Nason Banda and his team at the Drug Enforcement Commission should feel ashamed and drop these frivolous, vexatious, malicious and unmeritorious charges against the FAZ officials. The three individuals whom FAZ sent to Cote D’Ivoire as an advance party for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament were, by definition, all FAZ Officials. Mr. Nason Banda and his team at DEC should know that the term “FAZ Official” should not be interpreted based on their common sense or lack thereof, but should be interpreted based on the definition provided in the FAZ Constitution. If the Drug Enforcement Commission was not driven by ulterior motives and if they had done a basic investigation before effecting arrests, they would have seen that their case lacks any merit whatsoever. Unless Mr. Nason Banda is telling the Zambian people that DEC is a morally bankrupt mafia organization whose sole mandate is to pursue frivolous vendettas against innocent Zambians on behalf of powerful connected people? Is that what DEC is? We know that football, just like politics, has always been a dirty game. But let the contestants at next year’s elective FAZ AGM fight on a level playing field, and hope that whoever wins the FAZ Presidency will take Zambia’s football to greater heights. We do not expect Mr. Nason Banda to be abusing the authority of his office, as well as taxpayers’ money, to try and influence FAZ politics. Go and catch some junkies smoking glue, Mr. Banda. That’s what your job is. Anyway, the Future is SET ✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼

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SET 12.05.2024