Zambia police seize 37 Banda campaign vehicles

Zambia police have seized about 37 vehicles belonging to former president Rupiah Banda’s MMD party that were used for campaigns
“The number of seized trucks has increased to 37,” confirmed Mhlakeni Zulu, Lusaka Province police commanding officer, late Tuesday.
He said the police wanted to keep track of the vehicles suspected to have been irregularly brought into the country.
The trucks were found abandoned at a garage in Lusaka, said Mr Zulu, who urged the public to report to the police wherever they found the MMD vehicles, to help in investigations.
MMD’s hundreds of vehicles – trucks and vans – and other campaign materials raised suspicion that China bankrolled its re-election bid.
Orchestrating violence
The PF had sued the MMD and the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) on suspicion that the then ruling party had not paid tax when bringing hundreds of campaign vehicles into the country, but the court trashed the case.
Mr Banda, 74, and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) – the party in power for two decades – lost to opposition leader Michael Sata and his Patriotic Front (PF) last week.
The police also confirmed that William Banda, a close ally of the former president, who was on the run, had been captured and brought to Lusaka to face charges of inciting violence before the September 20 elections.
He was nabbed in the border town of Chipata – Eastern Province – where he was allegedly enroute to neighbouring Malawi.
Mr Banda, a controversial politician accused of orchestrating violence during the Kenneth Kaunda regime and immediate past MMD reign, was once deported to Malawi by the Frederick Chiluba-administration until the Levy Mwanawasa-government allowed him back into Zambia.
[Africa Review]

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