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The Lusaka Magistrates’ Court has heard how former Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo rose from a spare parts dealer to a central figure in the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) campaign machinery, securing contracts worth nearly K850,000 for supplying T-shirts and sound equipment between 1998 and 2011.
Testifying before the court, former Cabinet Minister and now farmer Gaston Fred Sichilima, 66, recounted Lusambo’s entrepreneurial beginnings and political integration during the MMD’s dominance.
“I knew Mr Lusambo as far back as 1998 when I was in the transport and garage business,” Sichilima said. “He used to supply us with spare parts and later helped me sell vehicles on commission,” he said.
Sichilima, who served as MMD provincial chairperson for Northern Province, said Lusambo’s business dealings gradually turned political.
When Sichilima was adopted as a parliamentary candidate for the 2001 general elections, campaign materials were needed — and Lusambo saw an opening.
“He offered to print better quality T-shirts,” Sichilima told the court, noting that he initially paid Lusambo K250 million (unrebased) for merchandise. The quality impressed party leaders, including then-President Levy Mwanawasa.
This exposure led to a larger contract worth K600 million (unrebased) for supplying additional campaign materials — a deal coordinated by Sichilima himself.
“He became a brand,” Sichilima said, noting that Lusambo’s growing prominence earned him the nickname “Die Hard” and an appointment as MMD National Youth Chairman.
“He was sent across all nine provinces to mobilise youths. The party gave him large sums for allowances, transport, and logistics.”
In one instance, Sichilima said youth mobilisation in Northern Province alone cost K1.2 million, covering allowances Lusambo distributed to youth and women’s wings.
These transactions, he admitted, were typically made in cash without formal documentation, especially in rural areas.
Under cross-examination, Sichilima conceded he was not the person who physically handed over the funds to Lusambo.
When asked by defence lawyer Daniel Ngwira why he hadn’t named who did, Sichilima replied that he simply hadn’t mentioned it earlier.
Another witness, George Kapasa, 59, a businessman in the hospitality and entertainment sector, testified that he met Lusambo in 2006 at Cash Crusaders in Lusaka’s Manda Hill Mall, where Lusambo worked.
Kapasa, a regular buyer of music and restaurant equipment, said Lusambo offered to supply similar goods at a better price.
In 2007, Lusambo delivered his first order.
“I was impressed,” Kapasa told the court. “He began supplying my nightclubs and lodges in Ndola, Kitwe, and Solwezi with speakers, amplifiers, fog machines, and more. I paid him K500,000 in total — always in cash.”
Kapasa stressed that all his dealings with Lusambo were on a personal basis and not through a registered business.
The defence then applied for an adjournment to allow former Finance Minister Felix Mutati, their final witness, to testify.
“These are not ordinary matters,” said Chief Resident Magistrate Davies Chibwili, visibly unimpressed with the vague justification, adding “Any application for an adjournment must meet a certain threshold.”
Nonetheless, the court granted one final adjournment, setting June 11 as the deadline for the defence to conclude its case — with or without Mutati.
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