Africa-Press – Zambia. Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe has said that removing the immunity of former Republican President Edgar Lungu is not a priority of the new dawn administration.
Mr. Haimbe said that he is not aware of any move or motion to remove the immunity of the former Head of State and that there are no discussions on the matter.
The Justice Minister said the new dawn administration is currently busy with running the affairs of the country and delivering on its campaign promises.
Mr. Haimbe has noted that for the immunity to be removed there has to be a legal basis but emphasised that there will be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption. There has been calls from some section of the media to have the former president’s immunity lifted.
This week, the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) proposed that former presidents should automatically lose immunity at the time of handing over the instruments of power to the incoming president.
FODEP executive director George Chimembe said this will save the country resources in pursuing legal action against former heads of state which usually ends up in no prosecution.
Mr. Chimembe said that if a former president is clean at the time of handing over power, there is no reason they should be worried about losing immunity, adding that FODEP believes this will also save the country the time-consuming process whereby a sitting president will have to trigger the constitutional clause to begin the removal of the immunity of a former president.
Mr. Chimembe stated that once former presidents automatically lose immunity upon leaving office, investigative wings will be at liberty to investigate a former president whenever they suspect wrongdoing and not wait for political instructions.
Last year, Chief Mukuni of the Toka Leya people of Southern province said that there was urgent need for the country to do away with the law that provides for presidential immunity against prosecution for both sitting and ousted presidents. Chief Mukuni said that doing so will be the best way to curb corruption at the highest level of governance in the country.
Commenting on calls from some sections of society to have the immunity of former president Edgar Lungu lifted, the traditional leader said that he has no objection to such a move as it will pave way for the former head of state to clear himself from allegations of corruption in his fallen administration.
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