A ZAMBIA Revenue Authority (ZRA) employee whose name has for years been synonymous with the controversial Toyota Hilux allegedly gifted to Archbishop Alick Banda has cried foul, saying he was framed and used as a pawn in the illegal disposal of government vehicles.
Mulopa Kaunda, the man on paper recorded as the buyer and the ‘Good Samaritan’ who donated the vehicle, said he has never bought, driven or even laid eyes on the automobile that has landed him in endless interrogations and public ridicule.
According to an exclusive story published by the News Diggers newspaper, Kaunda said what started as a strange email in December 2020 quietly turned into a nightmare that dragged his name, family and career into a scandal involving senior ZRA officials and politically connected beneficiaries.
The paper reports that according to records, the Toyota Hilux was allegedly sold to Kaunda before being transferred to Archbishop Banda within 24 hours, a transaction Kaunda said exists only on paper.
“I never bought that vehicle. I never participated in any auction and I don’t know Archbishop Banda,” Kaunda was quoted as saying.
The paper reported that the ZRA employee narrated how he was shocked to receive an internal receipt showing he had paid for a vehicle, prompting him to query the transaction, only to be told it was an error.
However, the matter refused to die, later resurfacing with fresh receipts and documents bearing his name, including ownership records.
Kaunda said the situation worsened after he was asked by his then supervisor to submit his NRC, a request he now believes was used to formalize the fraudulent paperwork.
What followed was a trail of summons by investigative wings, forcing him to travel repeatedly from Ndola to Lusaka to explain himself, while the public narrative painted him as the generous donor to a senior Catholic cleric.
The pressure intensified after documents linking him to the Archbishop were circulated on social media, a development Kaunda revealed pushed him into depression and hospitalisation due to high blood pressure.
“I have been mocked, questioned and treated like a criminal over something I didn’t do,” he said.
The investigations have already claimed high-profile casualties, with former ZRA commissioner general Kingsley Chanda and former director of administration Callistus Kaoma jailed for abuse of office.
The recent summoning of Archbishop Banda over the same vehicle has heightened public interest and anxiety, particularly among the Bishop Banda’s supporters within Catholic church, some of whom see it as political persecution.
But Kaunda said while the nation debates the Archbishop’s interrogation, his own suffering has gone unnoticed.
“For four years, I have lived with this cloud over my head,” he said.
As investigations continue, Kaunda maintains that all he wants is justice and the restoration of his name.
Kalemba, January 7, 2026
