Shamakamba was an incompetent ACC director general, insists Kaaba
UNZA lecturer Dr O’Brien Kaaba says, although he is not the author of the articles published by Daily Revelation, he can confirm that former ACC director general Thom Shamakamba’s legal practice, has significant flaws and has not been premised on integrity and professionalism.
Dr Kaaba charged that Shamakamba’s tenure at the Anti-Corruption Commission was characterized by incompetence, lack of confidentiality and failure to effectively prosecute cases of corruption which led to the entire Board formally complaining to President Hakainde Hichilema, about his conduct.
Shamakamba has sued Daily Revelation and Dr Kaaba in the Ndola High Court, demanding US$500 million for labeling him corrupt.
He contended that the words complained of in the Article imply that he is corrupt, receives illegal actuaries, he is a compromised person or captured by corrupt persons or institutions, incapable of fighting corruption and was in a syndicate that shields corruption.
Shamakamba wants the Court to order the newspaper company and its source to render a public apology and retract the falsehoods that he was cutting deals with Solicitor general Marshal Muchende to shield graft.
He said the apology should be widely circulated on the same platforms used to defame him.
But in his defense Dr Kaaba said he wrote two articles, under his hand on a student blog called Amulufeblog entitled “Rescuing the fight against coruption from colapse: The President must act,” and “Three things that have gone wrong with the fight against coruption and what the president must do,” published on 10* Juyl 2024 and 14th July 2024 respectively.
He said the Law Association of Zambia (“LAZ”), had objected to Shamakamba’s appointment during ratification, as Director General of the Anti -Corruption Commission.
“The plaintiff has been subject of several disciplinary actions by the Law Association of Zambia and in no case was the plaintiff cleared,”Dr Kaaba said.
“The Law Association of Zambia Could not support his appointment as Director General
of the Anti-Corruption Commission because it never cleared him in all disciplinary matters brought before it.”
Dr Kaaba said Shamakamba has a checkered history of legal practice and has been involved in several cases of alleged unethical behaviour, including the forgery of a will.
“The current system for appointment of the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission is based on a “tap-on-the-shoulder” system which is shrouded in secrecy and is seriously lacking transparency and credibility, and as such cannot be termed to be “merit based””. he claimed.
He alleged that Shamakamba was not subjected to any from of competitive process in his appointment.
“It is true that the plaintiff lacks integrity and therefore, the words impugned by the plaintiff are true and amount to fair comment on a matter of public interest,”he emphasized.
“The Plaintiff inappropriately used his power as Director General of the ACC to give immunity to four(4) of the accused people involved in the Ministry of Finance scandal which was being investigated by the ACC, thereby shielding them from prosecution and justice and as a result, some of the said accused persons, despite being allegedly involved in serious acts of corruption, have retained their senior positions in government.”
Dr Kaaba alleged that Shamakamba as Director General of the ACC has been involved in serious acts calculated to undermine the fight against corruption.
“In one instance, involving a case of corruption involving a pharmaceutical company, which case was jointly being investigated by the police and the ACC and the passports of suspects confiscated, the Plaintiff as Director General of the ACC called for the file and without justifiable reason, released the passports of the suspects, thereby aiding and abetting their escape from the jurisdiction and to date the suspects are still at large; and further, in unclear and unjustified circumstances, the Plaintiff personally wrote to the Ministry of Justice to the effect that the investigation had closed and therefore, the 6 million United States dollars which was
frozen in the said mater should eb released,”he said.
“At the time the Plaintiff was appointed Director General of the ACC, a number of cases involving current senior government officials were in progress and had reached an advanced stage, but from the time the Plaintiff was appointed, no notable progress was made in these cases and as a result, persons suspected of serious acts of corruption have continued to operate with immunity and in one case, one was promoted from Director to Permanent Secretary as a result of the failure of the Plaintiff to act on alleged corruption decisively.”
Dr Kaaba said Shamakamba personally wrote to a former senior government official to promise him immunity from prosecution if only he could return about one-third of the money found in possession of the suspect believed ot be proceeds of crime.
“The concerns about the capacity, propriety and integrity of the Plaintiff are common
knowledge and have been openly canvassed by Mr Musa Mwenye S.C., the former ACC Board chairperson and the Republican President openly reprimanded Shamakamba about his lack of seriousness in fighting corruption during the launch of hte National Anti- Corruption Policy,” Dr Kaaba said.
He said that Shamakamba has not suffered any harm as he never mentioned his name, in the two articles he published .
Dr Kaaba added that he is not the author of the article published by Daily Revelation subject of the proceedings, but that the article contains verifiable truths, is factual and relates to a discourse that is a matter of public interest.
“The Plaintiffsi not entitled to any of the reliefs sought from the Court,”said Dr Kaaba.
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba September, 2024.
And for 3 years, the appointing authority had no clue. But then again, he does not have a clue on many problems affecting citizens.
Vote wisely in 2026.
PF had a clue??lol
While the country is facing numerous problems an unbiased analysis how ever still would conclude this guy is far far far much better than PF.
I argue this purely on logical and analytical grounds .
Had this guy not sorted out the financial burden PF left allowing the country to again breath we would have has a crisis in the banking sector dollar would have been in 40s etc
While he has had to endure worst drought in a long time and other parameters not in his control he has tried.
He could do better in handling his team which needs a rework others need to be rested.
Otherwise let’s see how it goes next year’s God wiling if weather gets favorable we may recover.
We are now fed up with this story because it keeps on coming. The gentleman has already resigned, what more do you want him to do? If you are still not satisfied, go and arrest him or report him to the relevant authorities. And I hope that you have the evidence that you seem to have, otherwise should he be arrested and you fail to produce any evidence and is awarded handsomely, you will be the first person to complain that UPND is awarding its cadres as ba ndani aba are doing.
What I find disturbing is the fact that the AAC board complained to the President about the Director’s incompetence and lack of integrity, including his unresolved issues with the Law Association of Zambia but the President chose to ignore these red flags.
Bravo to Dr. Kaaba for standing his ground and making these revelations in the courts of law. I wish he had done the same with the Mr. Muchende’s case.