Maravi

Mulongoti's diarrhoea of the mouth

Mulongoti's diarrhoea of the mouth
By Editor
Monday October 06, 2008 [04:00]

Mike Mulongoti seems to be suffering from diarrhoea of the mouth and constipation of the brain. Mulongoti’s mouth never seems to run dry of undesirable and undigested statements or utterances. Every time Mulongoti opens his mouth, it releases something stinking or repugnant to contaminate the political air in the nation. And this also applies to the contempt charges against The Post editor.

We don't know why the editor of The Post should go to court on Thursday to be tried for contempt when this government has already found him guilty.

Probably, instead of going to court, he should head straight to Chimbokaila - Lusaka Central Prison - and check himself in. We say this because chief government spokesman and information minister Mulongoti has found The Post editor guilty of contempt and has warned that if the court does not send him to prison they will use the laws that are in other statute books to sort out this kind of thing.

It seems this government has not only accused The Post editor of contempt but has also tried and found him guilty. How? We don't know. They need to explain. Yet these are the same characters that are saying Frederick Chiluba is not guilty of corruption because no court has found him guilty. This is despite the fact that there is a London High Court judgment that found him to be a thief and he is found with a case to answer in our own subordinate courts. But The Post editor is guilty even before the charge is read to him.
We have every reason to be worried and fear that the editor of this newspaper may not receive a fair hearing because those in government control or have strong influence over part of our judicial process.

What Mulongoti has said about this case amounts to blackmailing our courts of law. This is not the way for those in power to behave. This wouldn't have bothered us much if Mulongoti were just a man on the street, a small MMD cadre. But Mulongoti speaks for the government and he is the campaign manager for Vice-President Rupiah Banda who today exercises most of the functions of the Office of the President of the Republic of Zambia. What Mulongoti is saying should be interpreted as government position.
Mulongoti is trying to set the court against us by insinuating that we insulted the courts: "But what we are seeing is the arrogance where the matter is in court you continue and even say it is a foolish wishful thing... What are you saying to the judge who is hearing the matter? Are you saying that the judge by granting that injunction is a foolish person?

That is leading to anarchy." And Mulongoti warns that if we continue not to cooperate with the government and the courts, he will revoke the licence of The Post. Thank God, there is no such licence that can be revoked. And we thank the people who made the laws under which newspapers and magazines operate in this country for not introducing a licensing system because with characters like Mulongoti in government, The Post would have been closed many years ago. But it is dishonest for Mulongoti to claim that we are not cooperating with the government and the courts.

What does Mulongoti mean when he says that we are not cooperating with the government and the courts? In which issues or areas are we not cooperating with the government? And in which issues or areas are we required to cooperate with the government and we are not doing so? Which courts are we not cooperating with? We have attended all court proceedings where we are required to appear. We have obeyed all the orders of the courts that have been issued to us. What we know is that we have not cooperated with the ruling MMD in its campaign of deception, lies and corruption.

We have exposed the lies of the MMD when they are told. We have denounced corrupt activities of the MMD when they are committed. But refusing to cooperate in the ruling party's crimes does not amount to not cooperating with the government and the courts. Probably, Mulongoti confuses the ruling party with the government and the courts. To him all these seem to be one and the same thing and to denigrate the party for him is tantamount to criminally offending the government and the courts. And herein lies our fear of not receiving a fair trial in the contempt charges that have been brought against our editor. Those in government have some influence over the judicial process while we have none. So the ground here is not level.

We do appreciate the fact that every state must have the power to maintain order and punish criminal acts, but the rules and procedures by which the state enforces its laws must be explicit and not subject to political manipulation by those in power. We say this because in every society throughout history, those who administer the criminal justice system hold the power with the potential for abuse and tyranny. In the name of the state, in the name of maintaining law and order, individuals have been unfairly imprisoned. No just society or individuals should be expected to accept such abuses in the name of respecting the law or some other pious arguments.

The right to equality before the law, or equal protection of the law as it is often phrased, is fundamental to any just society. Whether rich or poor, political ally of those in power, of those in the ruling party or opponent, we are all entitled to equal protection before the law.

Here, it seems the law is just there to protect those who hold the reins of power - the Rupiahs, the Mulongotis and so on and so forth.

While we appreciate the fact that the state cannot guarantee that life will treat everyone equally, under no circumstances should the state impose additional inequalities; it should be required to deal evenly and equally with all of its people - none is above the law. And laws are made to be obeyed by all because when this is done both law and democracy are served.

It is said that "the right to a fair trial is a cornerstone of democratic societies. How a person is treated, when accused of a crime, provides a concrete demonstration of how far a state and its courts respect human rights".

It is a generally accepted fact that the right to a fair trial is a fundamental safeguard to ensure that individuals are protected from unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of their human rights and freedoms, most importantly of the right to liberty and security of person. It is an important aspect of the rights, which enable effective functioning of the administration of justice.

And there is a very strong view that the right to a fair trial applies not only to procedures for the determination of criminal charges against individuals but also to procedures to determine their rights and obligations in a suit at law. In this regard, it is important to bear in mind that the applicability of the right to a fair trial on a criminal charge does not start when charges are actually presented, but from the first contact between the person concerned and the state on the case. This means that the right to a fair trial should be observed through every phase of the criminal justice process from the moment when the investigation is launched to the actual trial to any appeal.

The right to a fair trial is applicable to both the determination of an individual's rights and duties in a suit at law and with respect to the determination of any criminal charge against him or her. The status of one of the parties to a suit should not be used to disadvantage the other.

Mulongoti's pronouncements over this matter amount to interference with court proceedings. And we have every reason to feel disadvantaged and prejudiced in these proceedings by a complainant who today holds the highest political office in our country and who has so many people from various state institutions to speak and act for him. We can actually say that Rupiah is interfering with these proceedings through his spokesman and manager Mulongoti. Can we be expected to sit ndwii and expect fair trial at the end of the day? The answer is a categorical no. Things are not being done the way they should be done. In more just and democratic societies, Mulongoti's pronouncements would have ended these proceedings in favour of the accused person. We look forward to a day when such standards will be applied in our country. As for now we can only complain and say we are not happy with what is going on.

But this does not mean we will be cowed into submission and allow wrong and bad things to go on in our country. We will oppose and denounce every evil act and utterance. But we will do so at all times within the law. We have never been lawless and we will never be lawless. We are law-abiding citizens. That is why to this day, despite our editorial comments being very critical, no one has succeeded in a legal suit against them. This is simply because we at all times do everything possible to the best of our knowledge to keep within the law.

We think that we are defending certain principles that are of tremendous value at a time of confusion and opportunism in our country, a time when many politicians and other people are only preoccupied with feathering their own nests, a time of what one might call the deification of political power and its privileges.

Never before has this country witnessed such an upsurge in political opportunism and loss of values and principles. But this doesn't mean that this kind of politics will be eternal - far from it, because this type of politics is beset by all kinds of contradictions. But this is the time we are in, and we think that, right now, the preservation of values is of decisive importance for all progressives, all true democrats and all revolutionaries - all who want the best for our people and our country and who cherish the noblest sentiments. Preserving those values is of unquestionable importance.

No matter what happens, other times will come. Right now, we are in the midst of a huge corrupt politics wave; later, a huge honest politics wave, a huge progressive wave, will come again. That is for certain. This is a corrupt politics high water mark; with or without us, another honest politics wave, progressive wave will sweep our country. When we say 'honest or progressive' politics wave, we are referring to goals and purposes, not to the form in which those ideas are propagated. Just as dishonest and corrupt politics today prevail and dominate and are very strong, time will come when honest, progressive, democratic, fair and just ideas and practices will prevail and dominate - whether or not we are here.

Therefore, we think that what we are doing is of great importance for the future, but it doesn't make us believe that the future of our country is entirely dependent on us. It gives us great encouragement to know that we are defending that future and that we are a symbol of that future and of those principles for a country filled with people who are hungry, marginalised, exploited and suffering.

What we are saying is nothing but an expression of confidence in the future, an expression of confidence in the ideas we are defending as the fairest ones and of the cause we are defending and the most honourable one. We mean that the future will recognise this because, in the future, these ideas will be made realities; in the future, people will know everything about what happened: what we did and what our adversaries did, what goals we sought and goals our adversaries sought, and who was right - we or those who were persecuting us, who had acted dishonestly in discharging a public trust, who were serving a corrupt, deceitful, dishonest clique.

We are challenging them, absolutely convinced that the ideas we are defending will triumph in our country some day, that our people's legitimate causes will always advance and triumph eventually.
And it is this optimism, this confidence in the future that gives us the courage and determination to face all odds. And we will be with this courage and determination in all fights, legal or other, that Rupiah and his greedy and selfish sponsors have foisted on us. But still we deserve justice, we deserve a fair trial and not to be tried through Rupiah's Kangaroo court where he and his friends are the prosecutors, the jury and the judge - all in one.

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 4:39 AM