Chief Justice Sakala is not to blame

Chief Justice Sakala is not to blame
Written by Editor

IT will be totally unfair to put any blame on Chief Justice Ernest Sakala for sitting next to Regina Chiluba, a convicted criminal, at last Friday's state banquet.

The blame should go to the organisers of that function. Justice Sakala was just an invited guest, like all others. The Judiciary was not the host or organiser of that function. It was not the Judiciary that invited Frederick Chiluba and his wife Regina to that banquet. The invitations were made somewhere else, and the seating arrangements were also not made by the Judiciary but by those who organised it.

It is very clear that the Zambian people don't want the reputations of their judges to be in any way tainted by interaction with criminals and other unscrupulous elements. One wonders what protocol was followed to put Regina next to the Chief Justice!

It is difficult to understand why the organisers of that banquet sat Regina next to the Chief Justice. Was the decision conscious or unconscious? Was it an accident or a deliberate one? Was it a setup to try and embarrass justice Sakala?

Whatever the reason for that seating arrangement, one thing is clear: it was wrong, it was not in order to sit Regina next to the Chief Justice.

It was also very wrong to invite Regina - a convict who is only out on bail pending appeal - to a state banquet. And people are justified in complaining about this issue. If the executive, if the President is comfortable, is at peace in the company of Chiluba and his wife, they shouldn't think that all institutions of the state and those who head them feel the same way.

This attempt to put Chiluba and Dr Kenneth Kaunda on the same footing is embarrassing. The two are not the same. Chiluba has got corruption issues and criminal proceedings against him. Dr Kaunda doesn't have any such encumbrances. We don't think Dr Kaunda is comfortable in the company of Chiluba and his wife. No decent person, no self-respecting individual would want to be publicly exhibited in the company of such people.

It may be necessary, in the interest of the dignity of our people and our country, for Dr Kaunda to seriously consider not attending state functions where Chiluba is invited. If the government of Rupiah Banda finds it difficult not to invite Chiluba and his wife, then they should be made to choose between the corrupt couple and Dr Kaunda. They cannot have both.

It may also be necessary for our judges to put this as a collective condition for attending state functions. They should make it clear to those who organise state functions that they will not attend if elements like Chiluba and his wife are invited.

From the letters, phone calls, text messages we have received over the last two days, it is clear that the Zambian people don't want their judges, their Chief Justice to be seen in the company of criminals and other known corrupt elements. And this is a legitimate concern that deserves a favourable response from those who organise state functions.

In the circumstances we are in, in these days of endless conflict and tension among our people, it is necessary that the integrity of our judiciary is not in any way compromised or diminished. We should not do anything that takes away our people's respect for, and faith in, their judges and other judicial officers. Undermining the standing or integrity of our judges is dangerous.

The destruction of the prestige of our judges and our judiciary will have devastating consequences for this country. We should not destroy the prestige of our judges. What happens if we destroy them? Then, unfortunately, when difficult times come the people do not have anyone in whom to believe. When we have conflicts like the ones we have had over election results and other differences among our people, where will our people turn to?

We again ask those in charge of our government to meditate over these issues, mull over things and consider the feelings and sentiments of our people.

Whether they like it or not, Chiluba is a disgraced person who should not be paraded around at state functions. In more civilised countries, in countries with higher levels of morality and integrity, Chiluba would today not be anywhere near the activities of government. Chiluba would have been stripped of all the privileges that go with the office of a former president. He wouldn't be receiving services paid for by the taxpayer. It is only in Zambia where a president can steal taxpayers’ money and the same taxpayer continues to pay for his retirement, build him a mansion and give him all sorts of things. Is this fair? Does this discourage corruption on the part of a president? Instead of being ashamed of himself, Chiluba is going around talking about the house that the government is going to build him from the taxes of the people he robbed. We cannot think of a more contemptible man - our power of imagination fails us to bring into our minds' eyes a more despicable man than the man who steals from his poor people and after that wants them to continue looking after him and build him a mansion. Chiluba is a man as low and as mean as we can picture.

Entertaining Chiluba the way our government is doing is madness. This is lunacy. And lunacy is always distressing and sometimes it is dangerous; when you get it manifested at such a high level of state affairs, and it seems to become state policy, it is about time that it should be quickly put away.

And this is what Dr Rodger Chongwe was talking about. He raised issues about this before even Regina went to that state banquet and sat next to the Chief Justice. Of course we are not talking about legalities here. We are talking about morality. And morality is not a law. Morality is a sentiment, not a law. We say this because Chiluba believes there is no law that stops him from attending state functions as a former head of state who is facing criminal proceedings and who has been found to be corrupt, to have stolen public funds by the London High Court. But if Chiluba has no sense of shame, no principles or standards, it doesn't mean that the whole nation should be like him. There is a lot of dignity in most of our people, poor as they may be. And they don't like what they are seeing. This is why they are not happy seeing their Chief Justice sitting next to that convict Regina. This is not to say they are unhappy with their Chief Justice. Far from it. They understand very well that Justice Sakala did not choose to sit next to Regina. Actually even the body language in the picture shows very clearly that justice Sakala was not at ease. It was not his fault to be in that position. But corrective measures should be undertaken by the Judiciary to ensure that none of our judges or magistrates is again put in that embarrassing situation justice Sakala found himself in. And we also plead with those who organise state functions to leave our judges out of their reservations if criminals like Regina and other well known corrupt elements like Chiluba are guests. Again, we insist and agree with our people that justice Sakala did nothing wrong and does not deserve any blame for sitting next to Regina. He didn't put himself there, someone somewhere did that probably to try and embarrass him. Let's defend at all times the integrity, dignity and independence of our judges, our magistrates, of our whole Judiciary and judicial process.