Compensating UPND members for malicious prosecution

By Daily Revelation Editor

Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) is greatly concerned like the other millions of Zambians, over the continued practice by the UPND administration to reward their cadres handsomely through consent judgments.

Zambians are further wondering why it is only UPND members who are being compensated, when there were a lot of other Zambians who suffered not only under the previous regime, but in all the other regimes which came previously, and indeed those who they say are being abused under this new administration.

If the ongoing exercise being championed in the UPND was borne out of sound conviction, we would expect the administration to have implemented a wholesale regime to seek out all those who have suffered injustices in this country, including those who have suffered prolonged punishing detentions like the Kaumba brothers, Ernest and Elijah, for instance.

The list of those to be paid out should have actually gone back to those who suffered injustices for the Independence struggle of the country before 1964, those who suffered injustices during the UNIP administration, including those who suffered injustices during the MMD, PF and indeed the UPND administration.

The moment you focus the matter on UPND members alone, it clearly shows that you are now abusing the power entrusted to you by the Zambian people to reward your party sympathisers. There is no other way to describe this as gross abuse of power and authority.

And those in this UPND administration must also be alive to the undesired precedent they are setting in this country because of their ill-advised actions. We can bet the others will use the same argument in future to reward their own party functionaries, using real or even imaginary injustices, they feel they will have suffered under this or any other administration.

Yes, we are aware that a lot of UPND members suffered injustices under the PF administration, and we sympathise with them. But they are not the only ones to have suffered injustices while in the opposition as those in the PF can also argue that they suffered the same fate under the MMD, and indeed the current administration. Those in the MMD will argue that they suffered injustices under UNIP and PF, and those in UNIP will argue that they suffered injustices against the colonialists and under the MMD. However, bar those in the UPND, we do not hear the other Zambians entering into consent judgments with those at he state chambers to get compensation for having suffered, including those who paid the ultimate price for this country to attain its Independence.

We of course, are not in any way justifying the injustices as the same should be condemned, however, we can’t be a nation that narrows injustices to a single political party. Therefore, since those who suffered injustices but they are not UPND members, have no chance of being compensated and have moved on, there is also no harm in those in the UPND doing the same. If we are going to pay the UPND members for having suffered injustices, then let us equalise by compensating all the Zambians who suffered or are still suffering injustices.

We end by referring to the statement by TI-Z executive director Maurice Nyambe where he argued that: “Whatever wrongs they (those in UPND) suffered back in the days when they were in opposition, we really would like to place a very serious caution to the government, the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General, that really they should think critically about allowing this to continue. Because it does not portray a very positive picture.”