Prosecuting Whistleblower-the Case of Munir Zulu and Grandy Ntumbo- Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Prosecuting Whistleblower-the Case of Munir Zulu and Grandy Ntumbo
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
A Zambian national is making international news exposing President Hakainde Hichilema’s corruption fight as a fuss and bogus.
Bloomberg has been reporting that a former auditor at the Ministry of Finance, Grandy Ntumbo exposed the abuse of Treasury Funds and funds from the World Bank that resulted in President Hichilema dismissing the Auditor General, Dick Chella Sichembe and the removal or forced transfer of his two deputies, Clara Mazimba and Francis Mbewe.
Staff from the Ministry of Finance, Internal Audit and Accountant General, were subsequently removed.
The whistle blower at the centre of this expose, Grandy Ntumbo, sought protection using from authorities using the Public Interest Disclosure Act of 2010 to help authorities secure him a safe house and security.
Instead, authorities treated him as part of the suspected criminals he was reporting on.
However, with the support of the Platform to Protect Whistleblower in Africa(PPLAAF),a case was filed to compel government to protect Ntumbo.
PPLAAF is a pan-african organisation formed by lawyers and anti-corruption activists.
Later the Court of Appeal affirmed Ntumbo’s rights to protection and ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to offer a safe house and security.
Todate none of that have been done.
Instead Ntumbo was disciplined, suspended and his salary withheld.
He has since been harrassed, threatened and now lives in fear.
This case came at an opportune for President Hichilema at the time when the Auditor General was engaged in forensic audits of Hichilema’s perceived corruption at Ministry of Agriculture, issuance of hunting licences at Ministry of Tourism, corruption allegations at Ministry of Energy and state-owned eneterprises such as ZESCO and the Food Reserve Agency(FRA).
They were media reports were Hichilema’s appointees at the Ministry of Agriculture and Tourism refused to cooperate with the Auditor General and refused to hand-over key documents required in the audit.
President Hichilema therefore used this case to his advantage and dismissed the Auditor General and later he was no longer interested in the case.
His political goals to remove an irritable set of auditors and replace them with his pliant team was achieved.
As Ntumbo learned the hard way, it was never about fighting corruption!
Similarly, Lumezi Independent Member of Parliament, Hon.Munir Zulu received credible information that Ministers involved in the award of the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway were involved in corruption and had just received a princely sum of $250,000.00 in bribery.
Munir said individuals close to the transaction tipped him that the courier had just delivered the parcel.
Instead of investigating this serious allegations, President Hichilema immediately dismissed the allegations and stated that the men allegedly involved in the bribery scandal; Minister of Finance, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane and Minister of Infrastructure, Charles Milupi, “were men of high integrity”.
What was followed was brutal.
The authorities hunted Zulu and locked him up in police cells for days and charged him with criminal defamation.
Today, Munir Zulu has been subjected to criminal prosecution and is at the verge of being imprisoned for whistle-blowing on serious acts of corruption that needed investigations.
The allegatioms of the two ministers receiving the $250,000.00 has never been investigated.
Test Case: Munir Zulu Vs Magistrate Court
The case in which Lumezi Independent Member of Parliament, Hon. Munir Zulu has been appearing before Lusaka Principal Resident Magistrate, Hon. Davies Chibwili was concluded and is coming up for final judgment on Monday,7th April 2025.
This is the case in which Zulu is alleged to have issued defamatory statement accusing Minister of Finance, Dr Musokotwane Situmbeko of having received a bribe of USD250, 0000 from the contractors awarded the contract on the Lusaka – Ndola Road.
The Lumezi Independent Member of Parliament, also included Infrastructure Minister, Charles Milupi, and Road Development Agency Board Chairperson, Engineer Mulchand Kuntawala.
But in a sudden twist of events, Zulu has filed a petition before the Constitutional Court seeking to stay proceedings in his criminal libel case below the court and has named Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Gilbert Phiri, and Chief Resident Magistrate Davies Chibwili as respondents.
Zulu informed his colleagues and supporters of his decision.
“As some of you may be aware, I was taken to court by Honorable Situmbeko Musokotwane and Honorable Charles Milupi, who were complainants against me.This case has finally come to it’s conclusion awaiting judgement.”
“Without getting into details, I want to point out one thing; that, throughout the trial the complainants never appeared before court to give their side of the story.”
“When time came for us to make written submissions, neither the state as prosecutors nor the complainants appeared and filed a response to our submissions.”
“Under normal legal circumstances, the presiding magistrate need not make a ruling in favor of the complainants or the state, if there’s is no response from these.”
So what happens today!
