Mwamba demands independent probe into officer's death at police headquarters

Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba has demanded an independent investigation into the death of Assistant Superintendent Daniel Banda at Zambia Police headquarters, publicly disputing the official account that the officer took his own life. Mwamba described the death as "a suspected murder being presented as suicide" — his characterisation, not an established fact.

The demand lands in a climate where trust in official accounts is the scarcest currency in Zambian public life: an officer dying inside the headquarters of the service itself would test institutional credibility in any political season, and this is not any season.

What would settle it

Independent pathologist involvement, a public inquest, and access for the family and its lawyers to the post-mortem process would answer the questions being raised. As of publication, police had not announced an independent inquiry.

Lusaka Brief's standing rule applies: allegations are attributed, and the standard of proof does not change with the political temperature.

Back to the front page