Archbishop Banda spends night in prison after being granted bail

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE ARCHBISHOP Dr Alick Banda was yesterday remanded at Chimbokaila Prison despite having been granted K80, 000 bail with three working sureties by Lusaka Resident Magistrate Mwandu Nakazwe. Archbishop Dr Banda had managed to secure his sureties way in good time but the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) collected their names for clearance and by 17:00 hours yesterday, the commission authorities had not yet cleared the names. Sources yesterday disclosed that the State was determined to humiliate and embarrass Archbishop Dr Banda by ensuring that he spent a night in prison by deliberately frustrating and delaying the process of clearing the names of his sureties. “The magistrate court granted Archbishop Dr Banda K80, 000 bail in his own recognisance with three working sureties at K50, 000 each among some bail conditions. The Archbishop managed to secure the sureties and the DEC collected the names of the sureties for clearance. But as usual, DEC deliberately failed to clear the sureties. The lawyers kept on asking why it was taking long but DEC authorities claimed they were verifying the names,” the source said. The source explained that it would not be surprising if Archbishop Dr Banda was going to remain in Chimbokaila for the next coming days despite having been granted bail because the State was working at punishing and humiliating the Catholic prelate. “We have seen this playbook before…Mukandila (Celestine) has remained in police cells despite having been granted constitutional bail by the High Court. They could be planning the same thing against Archbishop Banda because the plot is to have his name and reputation damaged,” the source said. Archbishop Dr Banda spent a night in prison after the DEC charged him with being in possession of a Toyota Hilux registration no. AOL 3475 reasonably believed to have been unlawfully obtained to which he pleaded not guilty. The court has ordered that the sureties be verified by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and ordered that Archbishop Dr Banda should surrender all his travel documents as one of the bail conditions. Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri was in court leading the prosecution bench as Archbishop Banda appeared with Bonaventure Mutale SC and John Sangwa SC among his defence team. Also present at Court was Archbishop Ignatius Chama, president of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) and Rev Fr Joseph Simpasya SJ among other priests. The Archbishop has been charged with being in possession of property reasonably believe to have been unlawfully obtained contrary to section 319 of the penal of chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. Defence lawyer Jeffrey Chimankata made the bail application for bail based on on 4 factors the court was asked to consider in determining of his bail. He submitted that Archbishop Banda was not a flight risk and would not interfere with the witnesses primarily because there was no disclosure of any such witnesses. And also that the nature of offence which was being found in possession of property believe to have been stolen or obtained unlawfully was a misdemeanor and not a felony.

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