March 2005
Kasama Convict Wants His Possessions
By Madube Pasi Siyauya
A convict, currently serving an eight-year jail term in Kasama, has appealed to the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) for assistance in retrieving his possessions confiscated by the police.
Damson Myawanga, who is jailed at the Milima State Prison, said that the police confiscated his Nokia 3310 cell phone and Tanzanian currency amounting to about K1.5 million at the time of his arrest.
A Tanzanian by nationality, Myawanga said that a named police officer from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Nakonde confiscated the items and refused to give them back to him when he was convicted on April 18 2004.
He said the money and phone confiscated were not connected to the case for which he was convicted and therefore he saw no reason why the officer should continue to hold on to these items.
There was no response to inquiry on the matter forwarded to the concerned police officer, and copied to the Nakonde officer-in-charge and the Northern Province Commanding officer, by press time.
Simwaka described the action by the police of holding on to the suspects' possessions as criminal, tantamount to theft and that it contravenes Article 16 of the Zambian Constitution.
Simwaka said that the personal items or money found on the convicts at the time of their arrest, are supposed to be handed over to the authorities of the particular prison where thee convict is serving his sentence.