‘Give us bail, State is not ready to prosecute’
…The institutional incompetence of the state and the corruption of our legal process
By Dr Fred M’membe
COMRADES, fellow citizens, and my eternal dear friends in the media,
The ongoing legal debacle surrounding the state’s treason case against opposition leader Brian Mundubile and 17 others has exposed a profound and dangerous crisis of governance in our country [Give us bail, State is not ready to prosecute – Mundubile]. What we are witnessing is not a legitimate exercise in national security, but a glaring display of institutional incompetence that reaches to the very highest levels of power, including the Presidency.
The executive has trapped itself in a severe political and legal “catch-22” of its own making. Through reckless overreach, the state rushed to arrest political opponents on the gravest charge in our penal code before securing a single piece of credible, substantive evidence. To proceed to a full trial with an empty file will result in an embarrassing legal defeat. Yet, to drop the charges or enter a nolle prosequi would be a humiliating admission that the state fabricated a treason charge simply to lock away political rivals.
This entire saga exposes a pattern of staggering incompetence across the state apparatus:
The Presidency: The President has failed in his primary constitutional duty to safeguard the rule of law. By allowing state machinery to be used for clumsy political containment, the Presidency has shown a total lack of strategic foresight and leadership, reducing the highest office in the land to a tool for partisan panic.
The police and State security: Arresting individuals on non-bailable capital offences before completing basic investigations is a fundamental violation of proper police procedure. It demonstrates a complete collapse of professional intelligence gathering and law enforcement standards.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP): The DPP’s public admission that the state is still trying to assemble a file weeks after making arrests is an indictment of the office’s professional integrity. It reveals an office that acts on political directives rather than legal merit.
The Severe Economic Costs of Political Panic: This incompetence does not just damage our judicial reputation; it inflicts severe economic harm on a country already struggling with very high poverty levels, a staggering cost of living, and precarious debt restructuring. Every day the state prolongs this political circus, it drains millions in taxpayer funds on wasteful security deployments, maximum-security operations, and protracted court battles that yield absolutely nothing for the common Zambian.
Worse still, this reckless weaponisation of state security signals extreme political instability to the rest of the world. It spooks foreign direct investment, raises Zambia’s sovereign risk profile, and threatens our standing with international multilateral lenders. While ordinary Zambians face daily economic hardships, the ruling elite is actively sabotaging the economy just to fund their own partisan paranoia.
The tale of the foolish herdsboy:
In our traditional African heritage, we are all familiar with the cautionary tale of the foolish herdsboy (“Mulisana wa Sitoto” in Lozi) who repeatedly cried wolf just to cause panic and draw attention to himself. When the real wolf finally emerged to destroy the village livestock, his previous lies had exhausted everyone’s trust, and no one came to his rescue.
By repeatedly fabricating state security emergencies and crying “treason” whenever they face political competition, the President and his administration are acting like that foolish herdsboy. They are systematically destroying public trust in our national security institutions. If Zambia ever faces a genuine, existential threat to its peace, this administration will have already exhausted all local and international credibility, leaving the nation vulnerable because of their persistent lies.
We anticipate exactly how this administration will attempt to wiggle out of this self-inflicted crisis. To save face, the state will likely downgrade these unprovable treason charges to lesser, bailable offences like sedition. They will allow the judiciary to grant bail so they can claim to respect the law, only to trap the accused in an endless loop of state-sponsored “lawfare.” This continuous cycle of minor legal entanglements is a calculated, desperate strategy to drain the opposition’s resources and legally obstruct their path to the 2031 ballot box.
The SP demands an immediate end to this embarrassing legal theatre. The state cannot be allowed to misuse maximum-security prisons, waste public funds, and abuse court timelines just because the ruling party is terrified of losing power. If the state possesses genuine, verifiable evidence of a threat to the republic, they must present it openly in a public court of law immediately. If they do not, they must release the accused unconditionally.
National security is a serious matter that demands sober, professional, and competent governance. The current administration’s handling of this case has embarrassed Zambia on the international stage, degraded our judicial system, and burdened our economy. The Zambian people deserve a government that governs through competence and economic performance, not through the weaponisation of a broken legal process.
The author is the president of the Socialist Party
