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Sata welcomes Mambilima's appointment as D/Chief Justice

Sata welcomes Mambilima's appointment as D/Chief Justice
By Lambwe Kachali
Friday March 21, 2008 [03:00]

Justice Ireen Mambilima deserves to be appointed Deputy Chief Justice because she is not a manipulator, Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has said. In an interview yesterday, Sata welcomed the appointment and ratification of Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) chairperson justice Mambilima as Deputy Chief Justice, saying she was a competent woman.

Sata said although he was frustrated at the outcome of the 2006 presidential elections results, justice Mambilima did not play a big role in manipulating the elections but the government that did through what he called “impoverished electoral agents”.

He said it was sad that justice Mambilima, despite her efforts, had left ECZ without restoring the lost confidence in the institution. Sata said people, especially the opposition parties, should not blame justice Mambilima over ECZ’s failures but should instead condemn the entire structural composition.

Sata said PF would continue to fight to have an independent ECZ that is not controlled by the government machinery in discharging its functions. He said the last presidential election results indicated that there was little or no hand from justice Mambilima.
Sata said if justice Mambilima did manipulate the election results, PF and opposition UPND could not have scooped such large numbers of parliamentary seats.

“Because if you look at constituencies PF lost, most of them are in rural areas. For instance, Chiengi, Chama North and South, Mambilima constituency, Mansa Central, all these are rural constituencies and justice Mambilima was not there.

So, the MMD government bought councillors, teachers among other polling agents since the salaries of these people are poor and they are easy to corrupt. These are the people to blame,” Sata said.

He said justice Mambilima had again been given a tough job and that Zambians should give her the necessary support in order for her to change the face of the judicial system.
“If it was PF or UPND that won the elections, we would not be saying that justice Mambilima rigged the elections.

But because it is the opposite, we said all sorts of things. You know, it is like a doctor, when a patient is healed, people say ‘that doctor is well trained’ but when patients are dying, all blames are heaped on the doctor. We need to change the way we perceive things,” he said.

Sata said Zambians should fight the government to heed to their calls for an independent electoral commission.

“In my view, both appointees, justice Mambilima and Albert Wood (appointed as puisne judge) are qualified people who deserved such positions and let all Zambians support them,” said Sata.

On Wednesday, Parliament ratified the appointments of justice Mambilima and Wood.
The position of Deputy Chief Justice fell vacant after the death of justice David Lewanika last year.

Labels: ECZ, IRENE MAMBILIMA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 3:25 AM