JOINT STATEMENT BY 24 LOCAL AND REGIONAL AFRICAN CSOs ON THE RECENT APPREHENSION OF ZAMBIAN EMMANUEL JAY BANDA IN MOZAMBIQUE
As now Governor of the US State of Maryland once said, our worst decisions should not separate us from the circle of humanity. Allegedly committing a crime or even actually committing a crime does not mean that that individual should be deprived of all their human rights, due process, and the security of the law.
We call on the Zambian and Mozambican Governments to explain the circumstances in which Zambian opposition politician Emmanuel Jay Banda was apprehended in Mozambique and returned to Zambia.
If indeed there was a lack of due process and that Mr. Banda was not given the ability to challenge the process in a court of law, serious questions must be asked of the Zambian and Mozambican Governments.
You cannot condemn criminality on the one hand and refuse to respect the law in purporting to enforce it on the other hand. There is a worrying trend in the African region of African Governments executing cross-border apprehensions of dissidents without following the due process law.
The most notable and recent incident of this was the abduction of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Bessigye in Kenya. This is a scourge that must not be allowed to spread and become entrenched across the Continent. This needs to stop.
Total rubbish cooked up by Emmanuel Mwamba and other fugitives.
As long as these calls are not balanced by equally strong calls condemning the shameless bitterness and hatred to kill another human being that was exhibited by the suspect, no one will give this nonsense an ear.
There are images from the WhatsApp records of JJ’s phone showing a conversation to purchase a military grade drone. That kind of raw malice is not acceptable anywhere.
Nonsense. JJ Banda is exactly where he’s supposed to be.
Spot on!
Are CSOs defending the rule of law consistently, or selectively, depending on who is involved? Criminal allegations against Jay Jay Banda should be addressed through the courts, based on the crimes Jay Jay Banda committed. Whichever method was used to arrest him doesn’t matter he is reaping the evils he had sown. Human rights advocacy must be evidence-based, impartial and consistent not driven by political affiliations or double standards.
No one is above the law, and no one is beyond the protection of the law. Questioning how Jay Jay Banda was arrested is wasting.
Cry all you want. Criminals will be hinted down and once caught they will face the law. No one is above the law not even you guys.
This nonsense will not be tolerated any more. Period. We want good manners, and not this crazy nonsense being displayed.
While you are at it. What’s you comment on Maduro? You chaps don’t have the nerve to comment on this do you?
Linda Kasonde is supposed to know that JJ Banda was a fugitive. She knows that when the law first caught up with him, he feigned illness and asked to be taken to hospital. It was while he was in Chipata General Hospital that he somehow escaped. Banda managed to gain undeserved sympathy from the public by arranging a fake abduction. The likes of late Edith Nawakwi, Bregner Changala, Binwell Mpundu, Fred M’membe spoke out loudly in support of Banda. That issue of his alleged abduction is yet to be settled. I cannot understand why a lawyer and former President of the Law Association of Zambia such as Linda Kasonde is ignoring such facts.