Fugitive Emmanuel Jay Banda’s case against the state, State House officials, and a ruling party official for alleged abduction and torture has been dismissed by the Lusaka High Court.
The Petauke Central independent member of parliament had accused the Political Advisor at State House, Levy Ngoma, Communication Specialist Clayson Hamasaka, and UPND Deputy National Youth Chairman Trevor Mwiinde of abducting and torturing him in May when he dramatically disappeared in the dead of night and just as dramatically reappeared a day later.
While his alleged abduction has widely been met with skepticism and seen as a ruse in the never-ending political gymnastics of the Patriotic Front, Banda sought legal redress but absconded before the matter could be heard, leaving it unattended.
In August, Lusaka High Court Judge Mwape Bowa removed the matter from the court’s active cause list due to Banda’s lawyers failing to appear, but his lawyer applied for the matter to be reinstated.
In granting the application for restoration, Justice Bowa indicated that the hearing dates set in June would be maintained and that the matter would be heard between 30 September and 4 October.
However, none of the parties attended the hearing on September 30 leading the court to adjourn the matter to October 1 and still, there was no attendance and no reasons were advanced for the failure to appear.
Justice Bowa has, therefore, dismissed the matter for want of prosecution.
