Mwamba Demands Independent Probe Into Police Officer’s Death at ZP Headquarters

Tonse-Pamodzi spokesperson disputes police account that Assistant Superintendent Daniel Banda took his own life, calling it “a suspected murder being presented as suicide” Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba has demanded an independent and transparent…

Tonse-Pamodzi spokesperson disputes police account that Assistant Superintendent Daniel Banda took his own life, calling it “a suspected murder being presented as suicide”

Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba has demanded an independent and transparent investigation into the death of a 53-year-old police officer at Zambia Police Service headquarters in Lusaka, disputing the official account that he shot himself. Police say Assistant Superintendent Daniel Banda, attached to the Ballistics Unit, locked himself in his office at around 17:00 hours on 14 September while armed with an AK-47 and a pistol, and threatened to take his own life. Police assistant public relations officer Timothy Malumo said negotiators engaged him for almost four hours before he discharged the firearm and shot himself in the head shortly after 20:45 hours. His body was taken to the University Teaching Hospital mortuary to await a post-mortem.

Mwamba rejected that account, saying the circumstances were extremely worrying because Banda may have died during interrogation rather than by his own hand, and that police were attempting to portray a suspected killing as a suicide. He said Banda was the officer expected to sign off on an exchange of fire and the discovery of a weapons cache during the military raid on the residence of NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile on 14 August, a raid in which former Cabinet minister Mutotwe Kafwaya was fatally shot. Sources told journalists Banda was being questioned by senior police officers at the time of his death, naming Criminal Investigations Department commissioner Maxwell Timba Mudenda along with officers Boyd Kayelu, Harrington Akushanga and Innocent Makukwani.

“These prejudicial and extra-judicial killings have sadly continued.”

Mwamba called on police to give the public a full and credible account of what happened. Police say investigations have been instituted and further details will be released in due course. The case adds to a string of contested deaths and detentions since the 14 August raid that have drawn concern from civil society groups and foreign governments over due process in Zambia’s security response to the post-election crackdown.