Chiluba's loss of immunity a lesson for continent

Zambia's parliament has taken the unprecedented step of lifting a former president's immunity against prosecution in what political analysts have hailed a victory for "people power" in a country in which civil society is assuming a central role.

Legislators voted unanimously to waive former president Frederick Chiluba's immunity late on Tuesday, following allegations by President Levy Mwanawasa linking Chiluba and his close aide to a pattern of high-level crime during their 10-year rule which ended in December 2001.

Mwanawasa alleged that millions of dollars, including US $20.5 million earmarked for arms purchases, were diverted from the public coffers for the personal benefit of the former president, his family and associates. It was further alleged that public funds were also used by Chiluba to bribe, among others, former Chief Justice Mathew Ngulube. Ngulube resigned earlier this month after media reports charged that he had received bribes.

Several of Chiluba's close associates, including the former head of the Zambia Intelligence Security Services, Xavier Chunga, and Zambian ambassador to the United States, Attan Syasongwe, have been arrested in connection with what the media has dubbed 'Chiluba's matrix of plunder'.

Political analysts said parliament's move was largely a response to rising protests over the government's failure to act against high-level corruption during Chiluba's days in office.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched the streets of Lusaka, chanting and waving anti-Chiluba messages and swarmed the premises of the parliament ahead of Tuesday's special hearing.

"Chiluba is worse than HIV/AIDS", one angry placard proclaimed. "Chiluba is a devil incarnate", charged another.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, all 140 members present in the 168 member house voted to waive Chiluba's immunity. Scores of demonstrators, including students and civil society leaders, waited outside parliament, ready to hurl missiles at those who voted against the motion.

Most political observers applauded the lifting of Chiluba's immunity as a triumph for democracy.

"Zambia is no longer at a crossroads. We know in which direction we need to go," Steven Moyo, Executive-Director of anti-corruption NGO the Integrity Foundation, said after the vote.

Dean Mungomba, the head of the opposition Zambia Alliance for Progress (ZAP), echoed Moyo's words: "It is a good moment for the country. It is a lesson to all future leaders. It is a lesson [for] our continent."

Mungomba was a junior minister in Chiluba's government before joining the opposition to challenge Chiluba for the presidency in 1996. Chiluba had him charged with treason a year later, but the state subsequently withdrew the charges.

Zambia's civil society first demonstrated its growing strength last year, when it frustrated a plan by Chiluba to amend the republican constitution to stand for a third term.

The amendments, if passed, would have reversed electoral reforms that he personally oversaw in 1996, which limited the presidency to two five-year terms. Those reforms were widely seen as having been targeted at his predecessor, Kenneth Kaunda, who subsequently withdrew from the race.

But while most observers applaud the lifting of Chiluba's immunity as evidence of Mwanawasa's commitment to fighting corruption, some observers believe he is using the state machinery to settle old scores with his opponents.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that Mwanawasa is preparing the ground for the arrest of Chiluba, who is seen as a destabilising factor within the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).

President Mwanawasa is said to have ruffled feathers among Chiluba loyalists by failing to protect them from law enforcement agencies and by detaching the party from the government.

The national executive committee (NEC), the party's central decision-making organ, is said to be displeased with the fact that Mwanawasa appointed only two of its members to his cabinet. NEC members had traditionally dominated the cabinet.

Recently, Mwanawasa charged that he had uncovered a plan by his opponents to assassinate him. He did not state who the plotters were, but analysts suspect that he was referring to disgruntled party members.

"While there may be truth in the allegations of a coup plot, there is always the temptation to take advantage of the situation to settle old scores. We saw it happen in the past, when the Chiluba government detained opposition leaders for treason, only to withdraw charges against them later," opposition politician Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika said recently.