Ex-Zambian president’s son summoned for questioning

By James Kunda

LUSAKA, Zambia (AA) - Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s son Dalitso is due for questioning Wednesday by the nation’s Government Joint Investigations Team (GJIT).

Rae Hamoonga, a police spokesman, confirmed in the capital Lusaka on Monday that Dalitso was scheduled to appear but did not disclose the reason for the summoning.

The GJIT is an investigative wing comprising the Zambia Police Service, Drug Enforcement Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Financial Intelligence Centre established by the government last December to probe suspected corruption crimes.

Announcing its formation in Lusaka on Dec. 2, 2021, Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu said the unit was established to investigate past and present corruption cases which could lead to the possible retrieval of looted state assets.

Mwiimbu, however, said the unit’s work was not a witch hunt to persecute political opponents but a mere arm to recover the loot suspected of Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF) regime, which was ousted from office last August.

Lungu last appeared in public during a book launch by his former information permanent secretary Amos Malupenga in Lusaka on Friday.

On Monday, the ACC questioned the country’s former Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) coordinator Chanda Kabwe and Charles Mushota, a former Housing and Infrastructure Development and Luapula province permanent secretary.

ACC spokeswoman Queen Chibwe said Kabwe was called for an ongoing investigation connected to his time at the unit but declined to give out any further information, saying the investigation was ongoing.

Kabwe has, however, been linked to questionable transactions in the procurement of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said Mushota was called to provide additional information on an ongoing investigation but did not indicate which one of his two former portfolios the matter was connected to.

After Kabwe’s two-and-a-half-hour long interrogation Monday, his lawyer Sakwiba Sikota said there was no criminal issue against his client.

Mushota declined to speak to the media after his questioning, saying his summoning was a private matter.

After Kabwe’s departure from the commission’s offices, word went around that Geoffrey Mwamba, a PF member, was also due for questioning at the ACC.

Chibwe, however, said Mwamba’s case was being handled by the GJIT, hence his appearance would be at the police force headquarters in Lusaka.

Hamoonga, however, said he was unaware of any latest summoning of Mwamba.