WHAT ROLE DID M’MEMBE PLAY IN INVESTRUST,DBZ, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS, FINANCE BANK,NAPSA AND ZRA?

Authored By Mupishi Jones

On Thursday ,13 Sep 2012 the Daily Nation headline ” Nchito, M’membe dispute $4m debt” carried out an article on how Fred M’membe was involved in the financial transactions and subsequent debts of Finance Bank,DBZ, Zambian Airways and ZRA.
The Daily Nation went further to state how
the Nchito brothers and Fred M’membe had disputed the US $4 million debt claimed by Finance Bank and were now demanding for better particulars to enable them respond to the claim that had been logged in the Lusaka High Court.
Finance Bank was demanding $4 Million from Fred M’membe, editor of the Post Newspaper, and Mutembo Nchito then Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and Nchima Nchito, a Lusaka Lawyer, which money the bank claimed was obtained by fraudulent misrepresentation.

The three were Directors of the defunct Zambian Airways and were now being held personally liable for the money because according to Finance Bank,they fraudulently obtained the money when they knew that the company had no ability to pay back.

In a statement of claim before the court, Finance Bank, then represented by Sunday Nkonde noted that Mutembo Nchito and Fred M’membe through false misrepresentation obtained the money knowing that there was no way that Zambian Airways would pay back.

The amount included overdrafts and interests on it.
The claim further asserted that Fred M’membe as a defendant had no genuine belief that the Post Newspaper through whose name the money was borrowed would pay the money within two days after demand in light of the fact that the Post newspaper had huge outstanding statutory liabilities with the Zambia Revenue Authority which it had not paid.

On 16 November 2016, Zambian Report published an article headlined

“End of an era.. The Post is being buried in broad daylight as Investrust Bank appoints Receiver”.

The publication went further to state how Fred M’membe’s Post Newspaper was suffocated by huge debts and that Investrust Bank appointed the Receiver to recover debts owed to it by the Post Newspaper.Investrust Bank Plc had appointed Kaongo Musonda as Receiver of the defunct Post Newspaper Ltd of Lusaka.This followed the winding up petition filed in High Court by five former Post Newspaper (in liquidation) employees,Andrew Chiwenda,Roy Habaalu, Bonaventure Bwalya,Mwendalubi Mweene and Abel Mboozi.
In a list of updated claimants released by the Provisional Liquidator Mr Lewis Mosho dated, Sunday 6 November 2016,it was observed that the Post Newspaper Ltd owed various institutions K187 million (K187 billion unrebased) as follows;

(1) Investrust Bank was owed K7,952015.79 in loans and overdrafts,

(2) Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA)was owed K79,569,974.21 in unremitted taxes

(3) Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) was owed K97,248,505.13 ,a Zambian Airways loan it guaranteed,

(4) NAPSA was owed K3,087,308.05 in unremitted employees pension contributions.

Earlier on 9 April 2015,it was also reported that a defunct Zambian Airways, the airline that was owned by Mutembo Nchito and Fred M’membe, the owner of the Post Newspaper was one of the beneficiaries from the Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) ZAMTROP account when it received a payment of $50,000 through Access Financial services allegedly at the instructions of the then ZSIS Director General.Civil Rights Activist Brebner Changala was quoted as having demanded an explanation as to what services Zambian Airways could have provided to the country’s intelligence system to deserve such a payment.Mr Brebner Changala is still alive and kicking,he can testify to this.

In all these transactions,Mr M’membe is quoted as having denied ever owning money from any institution.Probably on the basis of his companies being seperate legal entities, that it was the institutions that were borrowing and not him as an individual.However, lifting the veil,Mr M’membe was at the helm of both the Post Newspaper Ltd and Zambian Airways.

Mr Fred M’membe founded the Post in 1991 as a weekly Lusaka newspaper, along with three co-founders Mike Hall,John Mukela and Matsautso Phiri.By 1996,it started publishing Monday to Friday.By 2000, the newspaper was publishing daily and had become the most politically outspoken newspaper.
Despite both companies the Post Newspaper Ltd and Zambian Airways being heavily indebted, the Daily Nation of 7 March,2021 on it’s front page headlined “How M’membe and Nchito looted Post, airline” went on to report how these two individuals of Zambian Airways and The Post Newspaper offered themselves high paying jobs where they were all Directors.
Information that emerged then revealed that a contract of employment signed by Mr M’membe offered his friend, Mutembo Nchito SC employment as Chief Executive Officer for the now defunct Zambian Airways on 11th December, 2006 at a whooping US $20,000 monthly salary among other hefty allowances.
And Mr Nchito as company secretary for the Post Newspaper designed the work contract for Mr M’membe as CEO and Managing Director with a net monthly pay of US $100,000 almost K1 billion (old currency)salary.

The two had a long history of friendship as manifested in the two legal work contracts signed, sealed and delivered to each other.

Mr M’membe in his contract was entitled to fire himself should he be dishonest or be caught up in any misconduct as CEO and managing director of the Post Newspaper.
In the contract, his sister Likezo Kayongo signed as Post Newspaper board member to be witness for her brother, Mr M’membe.

Among other emoluments in his contract included five percent net profit for each year completed including holiday allowance of US $10,000 as well as 35 percent gratuity paid to him.

The Post was placed under liquidation following its failure to settle millions of debts from various banks in unpaid loans, workers salary arrears and huge backlog of unpaid taxes to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) among others.

Mr M’membe continued to pay himself hefty salaries for the last six years of the Post operations while the company waded in neck deep in debts from all sectors.

Mr Fred M’membe is seeking votes from all of us citizens of Zambia to elect him as our Republican President.It is therefore, imperative that he retraces his roots and clear all lingering questions from the citizens in his journey to state house.
We therefore, demand a convincing,objective rational and detailed explanation on the above transactions.
I submit

Mupishi Jones
0977480386