By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
THE Lusaka High Court has ordered the State to compensate 19 former petitioners K80, 000 each for each year they served in prison for opposing the one party state in the second Republic.
Lasford Kayula Nkonde and 18 others had sued the Attorney General seeking a declaration that the equitable application of guidelines for compensation of petitioners compared to the late Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe by the Government amounts to discrimination as it was against Article 23 (2) of the Constitution.
The petitioners had asked the court to order that they each be compensated for the deprivation of their liberty on grounds of being opposed to the one party system of Government during the second Republic at the rate of K20, 000 for every month served in detention like the late Mr Kapwepwe less the amounts already paid to them.
Mr Nkonde and others had stated in their petition that they were all Zambians and that sometime in 2003, the Government intiated a progarmme to compensate citizens who suffered arbitrary deprivation of liberty because of their opposition to the one party state.
They said that prior to them receiving their compensation, each petitioner as condition of payment executed a disclaimer of liability by which they purported to accept the compensatory payment as full and final.
The petitioners further stated that although the guidelines and payment scale applied to the compensation scheme was not availed to them, they reasonably believed that the compensation was equitable but to the contrary, the compensation paid to them for the period ranging from one to seven years they served was less in comparison to payments made to Mr Kapwepwe.
Mr Kapwepwe’s payment was computed at the rate of K20, 000 for each month served in detention when he was deprived of his liberty in circumstances similar to theirs and he was only detained for five months and five days.
The petitioners said although they had on several occasions lodged complaints to the Attorney General on the discrimination they were subjected to, the Government refused on grounds that they had signed disclaimers and that their claims were statute barred.
They said that Mr Kapwepwe, who was detained for less period, was paid K105,000,000.00 and as such they felt discriminated in comparison to Mr Kapwepwe.
In her judgment, Judge Annie Sitali, however, declined for the 19 to be compensated at a rate of K20,000 per month but that the Government compensates them K80,000 each for each year served in detention less the amount they already got.
Ms Justice Sitali said that the compensation is payable with interest at 10 percent from the day of the petition to the date of judgment and thereafter at the Bank of Zambia rate until full payments.