Former Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare Emerine Kabanshi has been released from prison after completing her two-year sentence.
In May 2021, the Lusaka magistrate court convicted Kabanshi and sentenced her to two years simple imprisonment for charges related to willful failure to comply with procurement laws in the social cash transfer program.
The corruption sentence was subsequently upheld by the Lusaka high court on appeal.
This morning, she was welcomed back into society by Patriotic Front (PF) faction vice president Given Lubinda and her close relatives at Lusaka’s Correctional Facility, commonly known as Chimbokaila.
In 2018, former president Edgar Lungu dismissed Kabanshi after Britain and Finland froze aid over suspicions that $4 million of funding may have been misappropriated.
The funds were allocated to the social cash transfer scheme, a donor-supported program through which the government provides financial assistance to vulnerable households in rural areas.