Posts

AGA: Combating financial crimes in Africa

Image
  Participants during a virtual workshop on financial crimes organised by AGA-Africa and the Drug Enforcement Commission. AGA-Africa works with law enforcement agencies in Africa and other countries to combat financial crime through knowledge sharing. JACK ZIMBA ABOUT June 2019, a young woman working for Barclays Bank Zambia (before it changed its name to Absa) allegedly gained access to the vault, laid her hands on over US$400,000 cash and vanished.  Pamela Gondwe became an instant social media hit, and both local and international law enforcement agencies got on her trail. Almost exactly two years later, the case is still active, as Pamela is still a fugitive. She is believed to have slipped out of the country with her Nigerian boyfriend. While Pamela Gondwe’s whereabouts remain unknown, the case presents a typical example of one of the challenges law enforcement agencies face in reining in suspects who escape beyond their area of jurisdiction. And for a long time, internati...

Mutinta Mazoka: Why I chose Dad’s party over my husband’s

Image
  Mutinta Mazoka - I always knew I wanted to be in politics. Mutinta says she likes to help people. Mutinta as a little girl. Anderson Mazoka with wife, Mutinta. She shares the same name with her daughter. THEY say blood is thicker than water, but Mutinta Mazoka insists she did not use the blood measure when she chose her father’s political party over her husband’s. WHEN it comes to choosing which political party ticket to stand on in the August elections, Mutinta Mazoka could write a book. Why not? Mutinta, who is aspiring to stand as member of Parliament for Munali Constituency under the United Party for National Development (UPND), found herself torn between two big names in her life, two political parties and two ideologies. The 43-year-old political scientist is Anderson Mazoka’s daughter, who founded the UPND over two decades ago, and she is also Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe’s wife. Now Dr M’membe is a socialist who idolised the former Venezuelan president Hugo C...

CAR diaries: Boy named Tukusi

Image
  FET commander Sharon Namuchimba with Tukusi. Pictures by Jack Zimba Belinda Zimba attends to Tukusi's uncle. Clementine Zulu. Mama Fatima Adam. Dr Twaambo Sachose shows a local woman how to spray vegetables. Members of the FET prepare to go out in the field.   CAR diaries: Boy named Tukusi ·       Zambian female troops make impact in Birao JACK ZIMBA Birao   “WARI, wari!” the children shout as they run along our vehicle. I would learn later that “wari” referred to woman in the local language, sangho. In a Muslim-dominated society, women in combat with guns slung across their breasts is not a common sight, but in Birao, on the northern tip of Central African Republic (CAR), the female troops serving under the United Nations peace mission, MINUSCA, have made their presence felt. The women are deployed as part of Zambian troops in the northern region of this war-torn country. The Zambian troops were first deployed to CAR in 201...

CAR diaries: Meeting the rebels

Image
  A Zambian peacekeeper and a rebel fighter stand their ground in Am Dafok. PICTURES JACK ZIMBA Mocko Abel Ouya (left) with ZAMBATT commander Lt. Col. Paul Sapezo after the meeting CHILDREN in Am Dafok welcome our convoy. OUR convoy heading to Am Dafok on the border with Sudan. Zambian troops arrive in Am Dafok .   CAR diaries: Meeting the rebels JACK ZIMBA   IT WAS New Year’s Eve, and I was riding in an armoured vehicle headed to a place called Am Dafok from Birao, the capital of Vakaga Prefecture in Central African Republic (CAR). Our convoy was made up of two Ratel Armoured Personnel Carrier mounted with a 14.5mm machine gun, two gun trucks (Toyota Land Cruisers) mounted with 12.7mm machine guns and a Zetros truck. Of course being cocooned in the armoured vehicle, with its thick skin, provided a sense of protection. But in a conflict zone, there are a thousand ways to die, and I imagined many possible ways with a sense of fear. However, the words of Lie...