By Agness Changala
Petauke Member of Parliament Emmanuel Banda popularly known as JJ has disclosed that his grandfather told him that people always point at him because he has a leadership star.
Banda said this after he was contacted to react to a letter authored by journalist Peter Sukwa to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), seeking to revisit a case in which Banda was fined K12, 000 for urinating in his mouth, assaulting him and attempting to burn him alive with petrol.
Sukwa also copied the letter to various organisations that champion human rights among them the judiciary, Zambia Institute of Independent Media Alliance (ZIIMA), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MIZA)-Zambia, Alliance for Community Action and Chapter One Foundation.
Speaking to Daily Revelation, Banda said [pp-logged-users] his grandfather said everyone was free to mention his name because of the leadership star on him.
Banda said Zambia was governed by the laws of the country and everyone respected the outcome from the laws.
“That is why there are judges. Everyone has their own right, if you are aggrieved you know where to go to and then if you are not happy, let’s say if judgment has been passed that’s why you are given time even when passing judgment they also don’t force the judgments. They leave it also to the plaintiff and defendant, all of them are given 14 days. If you are not happy with the judgment you can appeal,” Banda said. “So for me, I can’t talk about anything because I know to say everything … if the judgment was passed, I never appealed myself which means I was happy with the judgment. If those people feel that maybe there is no rule of law in Zambia, I don’t know. But what I know is that Zambia is governed by the laws of our country, which is the constitution.”
Asked if he regretted the action of urinating in Suwka’s mouth, Banda said, anyone who wants to find out about this, was free to go to court and see what the outcome was because he was sure there was trial and judgment was passed.
“So who am I to start determining to say this and that? Even you, I don’t think you can start doing that,” he said.
And Banda said a “beautiful tree with beautiful fruits” always has a lot of people trying to stone to bring the fruits down.
Asked if he implied that this was an attempt to bring him down, he said it was up to the media house to know how to interpret what he said.
“I have told you that I have appeared in so many media houses. If you remember one of the interviews in which I said I went to ask my grandfather to say why people always point at JJ!JJ! The answer from my grandfather was, you have a leadership star … Even you the media if you … even anyone is free also to mention my name because of the leadership star,” Banda said. “There is nothing I can give on my side, anyone who wants to get the side of my story should go to court. Even for someone to start, are you sure you can even start interviewing something, you just simply go to court.”
Banda said he had not even seen the letter the reporter was talking about.
In his letter dated January17, 2024, Sukwa stated that he had written a letter over unforgotten humiliation and brutal manner in which he suffered at the hands of Banda, now Petauke Central Member of Parliament.
He stated that the complaint was in relation to a judgment that was passed against Banda, the court only fined him K12, 000 for assaulting him and urinating in his mouth.
Sukwa stated that he feels the matter was mishandled and that there was a serious miscarriage of justice.
He stated that in 2016, Banda urinated in his mouth and attempted to burn him alive with a 2.5 liters container of petrol in Vubwi, but his assailants walked away with only a fine.
Sukwa stated that the humiliation and torture meted on him through inhuman and unbiblical action by the Banda, who was former PF Petauke district chairperson would live with him until his death.
“It is the highest level of indignity that a fellow human being can expose another person. To this date, I remain traumatised, especially that my assailant is now a serving member of Parliament,” Sukwa stated.
He stated that he feels violated and robbed of fair justice saying the inhuman treatment and torture could not be reduced to a mere fine on the offender.
Sukwa stated that it was morally unacceptable that a person who was in public service would conduct himself in such a manner.
“To make matters worse, my assailant is now a serving member of Parliament and a representative of the people. An impression is being created that our society celebrates wrong doing,” Sukwa stated.
He also stated that this was the worst humiliation and brutal harassment which he suffered at the hands of the PF cadres which left him with lots of body pains.
Sukwa stated that to date, he still had hearing challenges because of the beating he suffered at the hands of known PF thugs.
He stated that the savage treatment was so bad to an extent that he was being tossed around and dropped severally on a rock surface ground like a bag of charcoal and mercilessly by Banda and his counterpart Mike Tembo, and this rendered him unconscious.
Sukwa stated that when a Good Samaritan rescued him and tried to take him to the hospital, Banda and team pursued them like notorious criminals and Banda stopped the vehicle and ordered that they be killed.
“He got into the back seat of the Toyota Corolla where I laid helplessly and urinated into my mouth while my friend Kelvin Phiri was being hit on the head with a Stevenson, eventually attempting to burn me alive with 2.5 liters of petrol,” he narrated.
Sukwa further stated that he suffered a huge financial loss due to logistics and medication as he was referred to University Teaching Hospital (UTH) for specialist treatment.
He stated that in criminal law, there was procedure for appealing the case.
Sukwa stated that the only person who could have appealed his case was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which he never did due to political interference and it was his humble appeal that the HRC look into the case as it bordered on humanity.
