Gov’t defends immigration blocking of ex- leader Banda

LUSAKA. The Zambian government’s top lawyer has defended immigration officers who last Friday blocked former President Rupiah Banda from traveling to South Africa for a meeting, despite a court ruling that he should be allowed to travel, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Monday. Banda was on Friday morning prevented from boarding a South African Airways plane to South Africa for the 2013 African Presidential Roundtable meeting by junior immigration officials at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, a move that has received wide condemnation from a cross section of society with lawyers expressing “utter disgust” at the decision, saying it was illegal and bordered on contempt of court. But Attorney General Mumba Malila said the condemnation by the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) was “wild and disturbing,” saying the lawyers’ body should have consulted his office or any other relevant authority before rushing to condemn the action. “It clearly shows that they did not research properly. They should have asked us what was happening,” he was quoted as saying by the paper. The court’s order to release Banda’s passport to enable him travel and the reasons advanced by the government to block him were two different issues, he said, adding that law enforcement agencies were still investigating the former president on other cases apart from those he was appearing in court for. He said his travel could have been prejudicial to on-going investigations. The former president has since commenced contempt of court proceedings against the head of the Immigration Department. But Minister of Home Affairs Edgar Lungu said Banda was blocked from traveling because he was on a travel ban and for fear that he would sabotage ongoing investigations.