By Charles Mafa
In the latest Supreme Court judgement, the court has ruled that whistleblower Grandy Ntumbo be paid over K669,000 in salary arrears owed to him by the government, following his removal from the Ministry of Finance payroll.
Ntumbo, who has not received a salary since January 2023, applied to the court for an assessment of his salary. His removal from the payroll is believed to be part of sustained persecution after he exposed the theft of over K1 billion in public funds within the Ministry of Finance.
As Principal Internal Auditor, Ntumbo led a 2019 special audit that uncovered a five-year payroll fraud scheme worth more than K2 million in the Ministry of Education. The audit also revealed the misuse of K500,000 from the World Bank-funded Zambia Education Enhancement Project (ZEEP) at the Provincial Education Office in Kabwe.
Further findings exposed widespread financial misconduct within ZEEP and the Keeping Girls in School (KGS) programme, including irregular staff allowances, unauthorised withdrawals from government accounts, and violations of a presidential directive limiting official travel.
During the court hearing, Ntumbo testified that his last salary payment was in December 2022, and that he was entitled to basic pay, housing allowance, and a fuel allowance.
The Supreme Court decision, delivered on July 16 by District Registrar Honourable Zulu, followed an earlier directive by Justice Catherine Kunda Makungu on December 13, 2023, which ordered that Ntumbo’s outstanding remuneration be paid without delay.
More than a year after the judgment, the government has continued to ignore a Court of Appeal order that directed the payment of Ntumbo’s salary arrears, the withdrawal of his transfer, and the annulment of the disciplinary proceedings against him.
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