When former Zambia Army (ZA) Commander Lt. Gen Wisdom Lopa and the former Zambia National Service Commandant Maj. Gen. Anthony Yeta were acquitted by Local Court Deputy Director Wilfred Muma sitting as a Magistrate on Monday October 6, 2014, there was an eerie silence in court room 3 at the Lusaka Magistrates Court complex. Gen. Sakala was on Friday October 10, 2014 sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour.
Almost always when an accused person is set free by the courts of law there is spontaneous jubilation on the part of the accused and relatives and friends if any in the public gallery for however long it takes before of course being reminded by a Marshal or the Magistrate or Judge that there be ‘Silence In Court’. Ask anybody who was in court that morning there was nothing of the sort, not even as the two generals walked as free men once again outside the court room. Quite frankly one would have expected to see some amount of jubilation with ululations of some kind. This was not the case and it has left a lot of questions begging for answers. Why did Gen. Lopa and Gen. Yeta as well as their wives and other family members and friends look so timid?
Gen. Lopa and Gen.Yeta had since 2012 been appearing in court with the former Zambia Air Force Commander Gen. Sakala accused of theft of K1.5m (K1.5 old currency) public funds in September 2011. The money was meant for covert operations before, during and after elections by the three defence wings. While serving Zambia as heads of these military institutions the trio met regularly especially that they were all members of the Central Joint Operation Committee (CJOC). The CJOC also included the Director General of the Zambia Intelligence Security Service (ZSIS) also known as the Office of the President (OP) and the Inspector General of the Zambia Police (ZP). Regis Phiri headed the OP at the time while Francis Kabonde was the ZP Inspector General.
Watching Gen Sakala remain in the dock as a convict and the other two generals walk to freedom gave mixed reactions for one who was simply covering the court process. One immediate thing coming to mind – was Gen. Sakala let down by his military colleagues, did they turn on him and wash their hands out of the K1.5m as far back as the arresting process when each one of them was separately interrogated? What was going on in in Gen. Sakala’s mind as and just what was going on in the minds of the other two generals as they walked to freedom.
Well, rewinding the clock to Monday November 21, 2011 at the Arakan Barracks parade square, there is the traditional farewell parade for former Commanders. This time it is Gen. Lopa’s. Here he is apologising to President Michael Sata and Commander-In-Chief of the defence and security forces for calling on him to desist from involving the defence forces in politics during the run-up to the September 20, 2011 tripartite elections. Gen. Lopa was quoted in the media on August 3 and 4, 2011 saying that he inadvertently mentioned President Sata’s name and apologised on behalf of the former service chiefs.
As an opposition leader President Sata on Friday July 29, 2011 claimed that the Zambia Army Commander Gen. Lopa, the Intelligence Chief Regis Phiri and the Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde were on his payroll and were giving him information. This was disputed by Gen. Lopa on Wednesday August 3, 2011 when he addressed the media flanked by ZAF Commander Gen. Sakala, ZNS Commandant Yeta and ZP Inspector General Kabonde. Absent was the OP Director General Phiri.
Here is some of what Gen. Lopa said that day – August 3, 2011, “It has sadly been observed that some politicians, in the course of their campaigns, have been quoted in the media insinuating that some members of the defence and security wings are supporting them and informing them on what was happening in the various defence and security institutions.” Gen. Lopa ‘sternly warned defence and security personnel that they would be ‘disciplined accordingly’ if found associating with any political party. “We will continue to support the government of the day, the President and Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces and pledge to protect Zambians,” he said.
Fast forward 12 days after the President Sata took oath as Head of State and Commander-In-Chief on Sptember 23, 2011 he relieved all the service chiefs, the Lopa group, of their jobs. As Commander-In-Chief he obviously and most certainly had a series of meetings, one on one or severally, with the Lopa group of service chiefs. Is it possible then that President Sata may have used some form of threats on these people to get at his predecessor Rupiah Banda whom he wanted to nail at all costs? Is it possible also that knowingly or unknowingly some of these service chiefs let out the fact that in one of the CJOC meetings it was resolved that some money be disbursed for covert operations for the elections? Were these military officers paying for being loyal to the government of the day because of the joint statement on August 3, 2011?
Some political observers allude to the fact that yes as the new Commander-In-Chief President Sata may have demanded all sorts of information from the Lopa group and the issue of the K1.5m most certainly came up. According to court evidence the money was disbursed to a ZAF account at Zambian National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) Manda Hill branch from the OP. Gen. Sakala told the court that he personally delivered K500,000 (K500m old currency) to Gen. Lopa and Gen. Yeta at separate times a fact disputed by the two acquitted generals. This obviously smells like ‘your word against mine’ more so that some military and security experts have simply stated that this whole thing should not have even gone to court in the fashion it did especially that the Lopa group was retired without convening a follow-up meeting of the CJOC to review the elections and how the said money was used.
By and large other observers have been quick to point out that if Gen. Sakala is guilty then so are the other two generals, Lopa and Yeta. They point out the fact that Gen. Lopa’s apology to President Sata was like buying his way out of any suspicion of any perceived wrong doing. One highly placed intelligence source actually states that there is no way Gen. Sakala could not have given his fellow commanders the money when he knew he was still going to face them at the next CJOC after the elections. The source contends that it was just a security operation gone wrong especially with the change of guard. Talking to a few serving military officers and some retired ones gives serious pointers to the possibility of Gen. Lopa being the sell out as no commissioned officer, a Lt. General for that matter, apologies for just doing his job, one that did not even involve the loss of any life.
What is more is that Gen. Sakala is believed to have refused to be part of the apology and the other compounding factor was when sometime after he was retired a marital dispute with his wife turned very, very ugly. In the heat of the commotion Mrs. Sakala was caught by television news cameras at a Police Post in Roma shouting on top of her voice that she would spill all the beans to President Sata on the money her husband Gen. Sakala had stolen from the government through corruption. True or false, this could have also created huge problems for the former ZAF Commander.
But strictly speaking there was nothing Gen. Lopa had to apologise for to President Sata because as an opposition leader the President was so careless and reckless in his talking and his statement on July 29, 2011 was nothing but inciting the military to rise against then president Banda government.
Well Gen. Sakala may have been found guilty of theft by public servant but Gen. Lopa and Gen. Yeta may be guilty of cowardice and need to be court marshalled. Yes guilty and not guilty!
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