SOME Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) members are up in arms after it emerged in their WhatsApp groups that the current president Lungisani Zulu allegedly spent association money to sponsor his wife on a trip to America.
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The lawyers who have converged in Livingstone for their elective Annual General Meeting are considering giving Zulu a second mandate, but want answers regarding an outstanding issue of abuse of office.
“It’s a hot issue being discussed in Livingstone. What happened is that there was a trip to America where he was supposed to go, but then he asked LAZ to also pay for his wife’s ticket, and they went. So that’s the issue. Now, some lawyers are raising that issue and asking whether Lungisani can be trusted again to run the association diligently given his past record. There are some defending him who are claiming that he later paid back the money, but the fact is that he used LAZ money to make his wife join him on that trip,” a lawyer privy to the issue explained to Kalemba.
According to the documents seen by Kalemba, tickets for Zulu and his wife cost LAZ K57,299.59.
Zulu becomes the first LAZ president in many years to pursue a second term in the highest office of the association of men and women from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE).
In the case of Linda Kasonde, Eddie Mwitwa and Abyudi Shonga, the incumbent presidents refused to recontest the seat, even after being pursued by the association members.
Zulu, on the other hand, is also accused of being a PF sponsored candidate, and this narrative held when PF-alligned Smart Eagles page published an article, endorsing him as the best candidate for the LAZ presidency. But fearing to be confirmed as a PF surrogate, Zulu issued a statement distancing himself from the article, forcing Smart Eagles to also delete it from their platform and apologise for campaigning for him.
In December last year, Zulu was again linked to a political grouping called Umodzi Kumawa, where he was listed as leader of the movement, deputizing Muhabi Lungu. Although he later distanced himself from the political group, the group itself did not deny that it was quoting him.
Kalemba April 24, 2024
