DEC has failed to prosecute Andrew Kamanga after arresting him when he was FAZ president, the Attorney General has consented
The Attorney General has signed a Consent Order with Andrew Kamanga confirming the High Court’s ruling that Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) failed to prosecute the former FAZ president on different offences that bordered on financial impropriety.
As the relationship between Kamanga and some officials of the Ministry of Sports deteriorated in the build-up to last year’s FAZ elective Annual General Meeting, officers from DEC were sent to go and arrest Kamanga whom they charged with three counts of financial impropriety.
In one count, Kamanga was charged with obtaining money by false pretences, in another with obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretences, and in the last count – conspiracy to defraud.
Kamanga was arrested in April 2024 but released on police bond after he availed two sureties.
After the arrest, DEC confiscated Kamanga’s passport and ordered the prominent Zambian businessman to always seek express permission of the Commission whenever he needed to travel abroad, effectively curtailing his international movements.
However, following repeated failures to present him before court to be prosecuted, in February 2025, Kamanga petitioned the State in the High Court seeking a declaration that the seizure of his passport by DEC was in contravention of his fundamental rights.
Kamanga who sought an order that the state surrender and release his passport also demanded that a declaration that the requirement that he appeared before DEC officers for the purpose of extending his bond pending the conclusion of investigations was in contravention of his fundamental human rights as enshrined in Articles 11 and Article 18 (1) of the Constitution.
Kamanga stated that due to the seizure of his passport by the DEC, he had missed various business opportunities which required him to travel outside the country.
In June 2025, the High Court ruled that the DEC’s confiscation of Kamanga’s passport and its demand for travel authorisation were both unreasonable and unnecessary.
Judge Situmbeko Chocho ordered DEC to allow Kamanga them to let him travel freely without constantly seeking permission.
But even after the June 120-day directive, DEC repeatedly failed to present Kamanga before court.
The State through the Attorney General instead sought a consent to dismiss all criminal charges the DEC levelled against the Northwestern Energy Corporation Limited (NWEC) founder and CEO.
In an Order executed on 16 July, 2026, the Attorney General Consented to dismiss criminal charges against Kamanga on account of failure to commence within prescribed time.
“That the Respondent (Attorney General) having not commenced criminal charges by presenting the Petitioner (Kamanga) before a Court of competent Jurisdiction for prosecution within the time prescribed in the Court judgment of 17th June, 2025, it is hereby confirmed that the Respondent (Attorney General) offers no evidence in those charges and the Respondent shall not attempt to prosecute the petitioner over the same charges,” the consent judgement seen by the Vital News.
“That consequently, the application for an Order Consequent on Judgement to dismiss criminal charges for failure to commence within prescribed time filed by the petitioner be and hereby withdrawn in its entirety.”