By Esther Chisola
Independent Petauke Central Member of Parliament Emmanuel Jay Jay Banda has written to the Attorney General demanding an apology in the manner he was handled when he was moved to Maina Soko Medical Center in Lusaka from Medlands Hospital.
Last Monday, Banda – who is commonly known as Jay Jay – was discharged from Maina Soko Medical Center but fell ill again during interrogations at Twin Palm Police Station. He was immediately taken back to Maina Soko Medical Centre.
His lawyer, Makebi Zulu, disclosed that the police wanted to charge his client with aggravated robbery and attempted murder.
In a letter dated June 10, 2024, Makebi gave the Attorney General a 24-hour ultimatum to apologise to his client, and has put in a proposal for adequate compensation for the injurious conduct occasioned on him at the time he was moved from Medlands Hospital to Maina Soko Medical Center.
“Our client was humiliated, subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and in fact had his life threatened,” Makebi stated. “The acts of the police were a violation of a right to life and in breach of Article 12 of the Constitution of Zambia and a form of physical and psychological torture and in violation of Article 15 of the Constitution of Zambia. We are instructed to demand, as we now do, that an apology be rendered to by your officers and further that you put in a proposal for some compensation for the injurious conduct occasioned on our client.”
Makebi’s letter further stated: “We contend that our client has suffered inhuman and degrading treatment, his life has been threatened by the acts of your agents and the manner in which they lifted him from his preferred medical facility to Maina Soko Military Hospital and further that the said acts of your agents caused mental torture and anguish to our client. You have twenty-four hours within which to address the issues raised in the letter failing which ours will proceed to seek redress without further redress to yourself.”
And PF secretary general Rapheal Nakacinda, in an interview, said the government was shielding Jay Jay from disclosing to the public what really happened to him during his abduction for fear of what he would reveal to the nation.
“So, they want JJ to be scandalised and possibly if they find the reason to charge him with a non bailable offence, send him to prison so that there is no chance for him to speak to the Zambian people about his abduction. So, they are so desperate that they want to re-open cases which were already concluded by the courts of law,” he said.
Nakacinda also said the UPND’s shenanigans of wanting to stop Jay Jay from telling the nation what happened when he was abducted will not work as he has already hinted to the nation.
Meanwhile, Nakacinda said load shedding hospitals would contribute to the high mortality rates in the country.
Last Monday, ZESCO board chairman Victor N’cube told Daily Revelation that the utility company would not guarantee that they would not loadshed hospitals.
Ncube’s comment came in the wake of a recent incident where a Lundazi Council police officer and his wife agonisingly watched their daughter struggle to her death after the genset at Lundazi General Hospital ran out of diesel.
