Former Zampost boss turns himself in to start prison stay
KANCHIBIYA member of parliament Sunday Chanda and his family members had sadness written all over their faces on Monday as they said their goodbyes to former Zampost master general McPherson Chanda before he was taken to prison to start serving his two year jail term.
McPherson was jailed by the Ndola Magistrates Court in 2022, together with Best Mwaiche former director finance and Isaac Kawimba former director operations at Zampost to two years simple imprisonment in a matter where they were facing 13 counts of theft by servant for diverting Social Cash Transfer Funds amounting to K335,108, 834.
On Friday March 15, the Economic and Financial Crimes Court (High Court division) in its judgement on appeal, endorsed the sentence imposed by the lower Court.
The Court had declared that Chanda, Mwaiche and Kawimba had intentions of diverting the funds without authority from the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services.
“By diverting the funds to a fixed deposit account the accused persons converted it to their own use based on the manner Zampost managed or used the funds,” judge Ann Ononuju said.
The judge said Chanda and his accomplices should have sought approval from the secretary to the treasury before opening a fixed deposit account were the Social Cash Transfer Funds would be held.
Judge Ononuju pointed the three did not act in good faith as laid down procedure was not followed to withhold funds for seven days whenever it was due for payment, in order to amass interest, without consent from the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services.
“The convicts did not act in good faith and cannot claim immunity under Section 90 of the Zampost Act. A prudent business decision does not include acting on illegal decisions by moving of government funds without approval from the secretary to the treasury,” she said.
“There is no evidence to prove that the public benefited.”
The Court said magistrate Kaunda Sakwanda was wrong when she entered a statutory judgement in favor of the State to recover the K335 million as the Anti- Corruption Commission did not prove the loss which government incurred.
Judge Ononuju referred the matter to the registrar to assess the interest earned on the money which will be reimbursed by Zampost since the convicts did not benefit from it.
She ordered that the three begin to serve their sentence as there was no reason to tamper with the sentence imposed by the lower Court as it was not wrong at law or principle.
On Monday afternoon McPherson, Mwaiche and Kawimba who were absent when the Court delivered judgement, turned themselves in to the police at the Lusaka High Court and were taken into custody by Chief inspector in charge of Court operations George Konde.
The family members who were downcast conjested the holding cells to keep McPherson and his accomplices company while his brother Sunday and his sons remained outside loading his beddings, toiletries and foodstuffs in a vehicle, before they were taken to their jail house.
Immediately the convicts were fully prepared for jail, Konde led the dejected trio to a Toyota Mark X which was parked at the holding cells awaiting to transport them to prison.
He later booked the convicts at Lusaka Central Correctional Facility popularly known as Chimbokaila where they will stay for 24 months…
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba
The Zambian Judiciary has a bias against less-informed law breakers. They’re often jailed for longer periods than their more enlightened fellow citizens. I cannot understand why the Judiciary is failing to understand that more enlightened citizens carry more responsibility for shaping society than less enlightened ones.