What many Zambians had hoped to be a tell-all legal showdown of grand corruption involving one of the government’s most important legal officers has ended before it began.
Solicitor General Marshal Muchende on July 19 sued Dr. O’Brien Kaaba, a former board director of the Anti-Corruption Commission turned “chief whistleblower” after the latter alleged that corruption stemmed from the very government offices charged with fighting the vice. Kaaba fingered Muchende as having taken for himself as much as US$500,000 in a single transaction.
Muchende then commenced proceedings against Kaaba, who readily welcomed them, whetting the appetite of many Zambians to learn juicy details of what have so far been only whispering of government-championed graft.
However, a consent judgment issued yesterday has ordered that the parties, by agreement, discontinue the matter and settle it amicably with each party bearing its own legal costs.
“Whereas the Plaintiff and the Defendant have held conciliatory meetings and have mutually agreed to settle their dispute amicably. It is now ordered and directed that this action is discontinued by mutual consent of the parties,” and the judgment read in part.
Kaaba’s revelations led to the resignation of the then ACC Director General and President Hichilema’s dissolution of the ACC board.
