Banda’s son ‘has links with Kenya elite’

The son of Zambia’s former president Rupiah Banda, who is wanted at home to answer to corruption charges, has strong links with a section of Kenya’s elite.

The revelation about the close connections of Mr Henry Banda with prominent Kenyans came as the government issued an alert to all international airports over the fugitive, who is believed to be hiding somewhere in the country.

Even though the government has received an international arrest warrant for Henry from the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, Kenya cannot arrest him immediately even if he is found since a red notice is yet to be raised. This means that when traced, the suspect can only be monitored until the document is officially published for it to be valid.

Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode said that the government was yet to receive the warrant. “They have not requested officially and I know they have to follow the protocol,” said Mr Ojode.

After receiving the warrant, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney-General’s Office and the Commissioner of Police will act expeditiously, he added.

Zambia’s Attorney-General, Mr Mumba Malila, said his office is preparing to formally contact all foreign attorneys-general for the arrest of Henry because he is wanted by police. Henry is believed to be in Kenya and the Zambian police are trying to extradite him from the country, where he is believed to have flown from South Africa.

As government officials fought off reports of his presence in Kenya, it emerged that he visited Nairobi regularly for business deals.

Tender opening ceremony

He was widely accused in the Zambian  parliament and the media in 2009 of brokering a deal in which a Kenyan oil trading company, Dalbit Petroleum Ltd, clinched a multi-million-dollar contract to supply finished petroleum products to Zambia.

There were sensational claims in the media on how the Kenyan businessmen who had attended the tender opening ceremony in Lusaka had been given aide de camps provided by the government and were escorted in a convoy of government-owned  Mercedez Benz cars to State House after the ceremony.

On August 28, 2009, Zambia’s then Finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane allowed the Energy ministry to import diesel duty-free. However, since the ministry does not have the capacity to do so, it contracted, without following tender procedures, Dalbit Petroleum of Kenya and Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait to import the commodity.

Zambia had to resort to importing large quantities of refined products after closing its refinery in Ndola, the capital of the country’s Copper- belt region. IPG and Dalbit were engaged by Rupiah’s government and his associates to import finished products on zero per cent import duty. Under the contract, Dalbit was to supply 1.4 million litres of diesel and petrol for two years through the ports of Dar-es-Salaam and Beira.

The circumstances under which the Kenyan company was contracted to perform the multi-million-dollar deal in Zambia sparked controversy in parliament and the media in Lusaka, especially after the country experienced widespread shortages.

Then Defence minister George Mpombo urged president Banda to ensure that his sons declared interest when dealing with certain business transactions, according to a dossier handed to the government by former United States ambassador Michael Ranneberger.

On Thursday the Nation visited the home of one of the businessmen who is said to have links with Henry in Spring Valley, Nairobi, but learnt that he had left the country on January 26 and it was not known when he would be back.