Tribunal on Dora bars cadres
Tribunal on Dora bars cadresWritten by Mwala Kalaluka
Wednesday, March 04, 2009 8:37:03 PM
THE Dora Siliya tribunal yesterday barred party cadres from the Supreme Court premises during its sitting following last Monday's conduct by unruly MMD cadres. And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka yesterday testified that it was not proper for Siliya to have allegedly claimed a K12.5 million from Petauke District Council for work that was not commensurate to the refund.
Meanwhile, the consortium of civil society organisations that lodged complaints against Siliya has secured legal representation.
This is in a matter where former communications and transport minister William Harrington and ten civil society organisations had asked Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to set up a tribunal to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office involving communications and transport minister Siliya.
Harrington and the ten civil society organisations urged Chief Justice Sakala to probe Siliya for allegedly breaching the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct in her engagement of RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to value Zamtel's assets before partial privatisation and her cancellation of a tender that was awarded for the installation of radars at the Lusaka and Livingstone international airports.
When proceedings commenced, judge Chirwa asked Bonaventure Mutale if he was aware of the letter that his client, Harrington, had lodged before the tribunal relating to the verbal abuse and physical harassment that he suffered at the hands of MMD cadres the previous day.
Mutale said he was aware and he was in the process of raising the issue before the tribunal.
Mutale said Harrington was subjected to a lot of threats from the MMD cadres, in the presence of William Banda, a person they believed to be a presidential advisor to President Rupiah Banda.
"...We are concerned about the behaviour of the party cadres and we seek the protection of this court," he said. "The petitioners need to be assured that they will not be harassed for exercising their constitutional right of lodging their complaint against a public official."
Mutale said the threats and harassment against Harrington were unnecessary and uncalled for, and he further expressed surprise that MMD cadres had been allowed to invade the court premises when this was never the case with cadres from other political parties.
Judge Chirwa asked Mutale why Harrington had directly addressed the letter of complaint to the tribunal when it was the preserve of his lawyer to do so.
Mutale apologised that he was not aware, until later, that his client had directly written to the tribunal.
However, Mutale said no disrespect was intended.
Judge Chirwa then asked Mutale to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.
Siliya's lawyer, Eric Silwamba initially said he had locus standi to comment on the issue but later said like any officer of the court, the incident was regrettable.
Silwamba said there should be transparency during the tribunal's sittings and that all parties must be protected.
However, Silwamba said he had observed that there was a peaceful atmosphere at the court premises.
Silwamba said he was also pleased to note that Mutale had been admonished over the channel of communication between his client and the tribunal.
Judge Peter Chitengi then asked Silwamba if he was aware of any person who could have instigated the violent incident.
Silwamba responded that he listened and saw Harrington talking about the issue on television and that the incident at the court premises had transpired after his client had left.
Judge Chirwa asked if William Banda was present in the courtroom.
William Banda, who was seated in the public gallery, was seen raising his hand and was called to the front to give his side of the story.
Banda said some female MMD cadres started taunting and booing Harrington after he raised his fist, to show that he was a member of the Patriotic Front (PF).
He said he was handling an issue for MMD national chairperson Michael Mabenga when he came across Harrington, as he headed to his vehicle that was parked near the High Court.
Banda narrated that it was at this point that Harrington raised his fist and some women immediately started singing songs against him.
"There were also three young men who also raised their fists," he said. "Those three people that were with Mr Harrington said to the women that 'you prostitutes.'"
Banda said Harrington then shouted that the country was being taken back to the UNIP days.
He said it was at that time that the people got angered but he [Banda], the police and Mabenga blocked the cadres against Harrington.
"I do not know why he mentioned my name while it was me who assisted him," Banda said. "I never even spoke to him...he walked freely from the steps after the case to his car until he raised his fist; that is when everything got into such a situation."
When asked by judge Chirwa to give his version, Harrington said Banda was being economical with the truth in his narration.
Harrington said he had great difficulty even walking the steps of the Supreme Court to his car after the sitting because of the presence of what he estimated to be about 300 MMD cadres.
"The party cadres started raising the MMD party symbol to me and others and I stood there waiting for about ten minutes and they continued chanting and singing using words like 'waona iwe, boma ni boma' [have you seen that the government is powerful?]" he said.
Harrington said one elderly MMD cadre hurled unprintables against his widowed mother, who was 700 kilometres away in Senanga, which words he could not mention before the tribunal because that would be against his Lozi custom.
He said he had no doubt that the cadres were supervised in their hostility against him as a complainant before the tribunal.
Judge Chirwa then said the incident, in which some MMD cadres almost beat up Harrington after the sittings were adjourned on Monday, was most unfortunate and uncalled for.
"It is because of that incident that no party will be allowed in the court premises," judge Chirwa ruled.
He also said nobody adorning party materials would be allowed and he advised Banda to ensure that the ruling was adhered to.
Later in testimony before the tribunal, Harrington said his complaint was primarily based on media reports.
He said it was up to the tribunal to bring out the truth or the falsehoods in the complaints.
Harrington said at no time did he, as communications and transport minister, commit the government on any contractual obligation, saying that was the responsibility of the technocrats.
He said according to his experience and knowledge, any parastatal company that was in the process of being privatised should be tranched and when the process reaches that stage all its affairs would fall under the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry.
He said he was aware of this because he served at the ministry at one time.
Harrington said he could not rely on the ministerial statement that Siliya gave to Parliament because of its generality and the fact that accusations and counter-accusations had continued after it was issued.
Silwamba then asked Harrington whether he was in a position to tell the tribunal if the laws that pertained at the Ministry of Communications and Transport at the time he was minister, were the same that applied to his predecessors like Siliya.
Harrington said he could not be aware of that but that during his time, a minister could not commit the government to any contractual obligation.
Silwamba then asked Harrington if the law pertaining to contracts did not change following what he called the infamous 1996 Act.
In response, Harrington said it was standard practice that the controlling officer of the ministry would consult the Attorney General to seek legal advice over a contract, after which a decision would be made, bearing in mind that such advice could not be disregarded.
When Siliya's lawyer, Keith Mukata, asked him if he would remove his suspicions if he realised that the Solicitor General had sanctioned the contract involving RP Capital Partners over Zamtel, Harrington said he would first require authentic evidence before he could allay his suspicions.
He also said he was not aware if the Attorney General was in or out of the country at the time the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with RP Capital Partners was signed.
Mukata told Harrington that there were instances where the Solicitor General could act on behalf of the Attorney General.
Mukata also asked Harrington if he was aware that there was no company called Thales Air Systems of South Africa but that there was Thales Air Systems of France.
And Lifuka said according to the information they have accessed through their system, the K12.5 million that was claimed as a refund from Petauke District Council for the hand pumps, which should have cost K2.5 million each, by Siliya could not amount to the works done.
During cross-examination by Silwamba, Lifuka said the consortium of civil society's two complaints were based on press reports but that the third one involving Siliya's K12.5 million refund claim from Petauke District Council was based on the information they had obtained from local persons.
Lifuka said TIZ had written to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the complaint.
He said it was TIZ's belief that Siliya should have conformed to conduct befitting a minister or member of parliament in the above allegation.
Lifuka told Silwamba that the civil society organisations had sought legal advice before proceeding to lodge their complaint before Chief Justice Sakala.
He said they were well aware of the legal consequences of their action.
This was after Silwamba asked Lifuka if he was aware that it was an offence to lodge a falsehood before the Chief Justice.
"Are you aware that this is a serious allegation you are making?" Silwamba asked, to which Lifuka responded: "Some witnesses are going to testify to that."
Asked if he had verified the complaint from Siliya's constituency, Lifuka said they did, especially that there was a letter written by Siliya herself on a Ministry of Communications and Transport headed paper, where the claim for refund was being done.
He also said they obtained an invoice from Saro Agri Equipment which reflected the amount of hand pumps at the time the pumps that Siliya was claiming a refund on had been procured.
When Silwamba asked Lifuka if he was sure that Siliya had breached part two of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct in the above issue, Lifuka replied in the affirmative.
And the consortium of civil society organisations have secured the services of Eddie Mwitwa from Musa Mwenye Advocates to represent them before the tribunal.
The sittings continue today.
Labels: CADRES, DORA SILIYA
posted by MrK @ 8:38 PM
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