The Fresh Charges Against Hon. Emmanuel JJ Banda are illegal and Unconstitutional
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
Family what is happening to Petauke Central Independent Member of Parliament, Hon. Emmanuel JJ Banda is illegal, unconstitutional and barbaric, and breaches all sense of decency by the State.
Despite his illness, the Police have transported Hon. Banda to Eatsern Province and proceeded to charge him with fresh offences emanating from a tried and tested case of 2016.
First of all, Hon. Banda was a victim of a heinous crime of abduction on 24th May, 2024 and he was later left for dead.
He has named known persons that formed part of his abductors and has proceeded to inform the Police and submitted to court the details of his abduction as contained in his filed affidavit in the Lusaka High court
Further, he has disclosed that he was tortured and later left for dead.
The Police won’t touch that case.
Article 15 of the Republican Constitution prohibits torture and inhuman treatment. [Protection from inhuman treatment]
It states that;
“No person shall be subjected to torture, or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other like treatment”.
Further, the action by the Zambia Police to charge Hon. Banda with offences of attempte murder and aggravated robbery over the same facts that he has been tried by a competent court of law, is legal mischief, abuse of the law and court.process and unconstitutional.
Article 18( 5) of the Republican Constitution states that;
“No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, except upon the order of a superior court in the
course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal.”
We must speak against this injustice. We must call on President Hakainde Hichilema to stop abusing the law and respect the Constitution.
Zambia is a Democracy and the Rule of Law is cardinal to its practice. We must never allow the abuse of the law and the lawlessness as displayed with impunity by the Zambia Police in this case and others.