JB return date not yet out as October nears end

Former President Joyce Banda said she will be returning back home in October but the month ends this weekend with her return date not yet disclosed.

Banda, however, says she does not fear any arrest as she has never collided with the law, the spokesman for her office has said.

Spokesperson for the office of the former president, Andekuche Chanthunya said the program for Banda has not changed and will be jetting back home.

“If she fails this month-end then most likely early next month but she is definitely coming,” said Chamthunya.

Banda will find some of the top officials in her party, the Peoples Party resigned or defected to other parties after she spent over a year abroad.

Some of the officials who quit their positions in her absence vice president of the party Brown Mpinganjira, deputy secretary general George Zulu, her running mate in the 2014 polls, Sosten Gwengwe and former deputy minister Abel Kayembe, among others.

Chamthunya said the State has not indicted her of any offence therefore it is hearsay that she is marked for an arrest.

Some unconfirmed reports indicate that she would be arrested upon arrival to answer charges related to the plunder of public money in the infamous cashgate after convicted Oswald Lutepo implicated her despite not being named in the official forensic audit report.

Minister of Justice Samuel Tembenu said the last phase of cashgate trials, involving politicians, starts soon but did not name the powerful people involved. If arrested, she would be the third former head of state to stand trial after Kamuzu Banda on murder charges and Bakili Muluzi on corruption charges.