LUSAKA - A Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) employee, Mulopa Kaunda, has denied buying or gifting a Toyota Hilux to Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka Alick Banda, saying his name was used in documents relating to a vehicle he claims he never saw or touched.
In an investigation published by News Diggers on January 7, 2026, Kaunda said he never participated in any ZRA tender or auction to acquire the Toyota Hilux, registration number ALF 7734, which records indicate was transferred into his name on April 21, 2021 before being transferred to Archbishop Banda the following day.
Kaunda said he first became aware that his name was connected to the vehicle in December 2020 when he received an internal email from the ZRA accounts department containing a receipt purportedly acknowledging payment for a vehicle he had allegedly purchased from the institution.
He said he immediately questioned the transaction and was told by senior ZRA officials that the receipt had been issued in error and should be ignored. He later received another communication indicating that the receipt had been cancelled.
According to Kaunda, his former supervisor, Callistus Kaoma, later asked him to provide a copy of his National Registration Card (NRC). Kaunda said he sent the document from his work email to Kaoma’s personal email, but was not informed why it was required.
Kaunda said he never drove the vehicle out of ZRA premises and disputed records suggesting that he collected it from the authority’s Lusaka offices on November 13, 2020.
He said he was working in Ndola on that date and only transferred to Lusaka in May 2022. He challenged investigators to check ZRA’s CCTV footage and gate-pass records to establish who actually drove the vehicle out of the premises.
Kaunda also denied knowing Archbishop Banda, saying he had never met or communicated with the Catholic cleric.
The employee said the allegations have subjected him and his family to years of public embarrassment and repeated interrogations by law enforcement agencies.
He said the publication of documents linking him to the transaction by former diplomat Emmanuel Mwamba caused him significant emotional distress and that he was subsequently hospitalised with high blood pressure.
Despite the investigations, Kaunda said he remains employed by ZRA and has never been charged or subjected to a disciplinary hearing over the matter.
Meanwhile, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Director General Nason Banda confirmed that investigators had questioned Kaunda over the transaction.
Banda said Kaunda had maintained during questioning that he never purchased the vehicle from ZRA, adding that the commission had also interviewed other people in connection with the matter.
He said the investigation had been ongoing for a long time and that investigators had been gathering information before summoning Archbishop Banda.
The vehicle matter forms part of wider investigations into the disposal of ZRA vehicles during the previous administration. Records cited by News Diggers indicate that at least 22 ZRA vehicles were disposed of under circumstances that investigators considered questionable.
Former ZRA Commissioner General Kingsley Chanda and former Director of Administration Callistus Kaoma were convicted and sentenced to six and nine years in prison respectively over the irregular disposal of government vehicles.
Who is Archbishop Alick Banda?
Archbishop Alick Banda was ordained a Catholic priest on August 7, 1994. He was appointed Bishop of Ndola in November 2009 and later appointed Archbishop of Lusaka by Pope Francis in 2018.
The investigation and subsequent questioning of Archbishop Banda have attracted public attention, with concerns being raised by some members of the Catholic community about the circumstances surrounding the investigation.
The concerns and allegations regarding the vehicle transaction remain subject to the ongoing investigations and any further proceedings or findings by the relevant authorities.
Source: News Diggers | By: Ulande Nkomesha