LAZ must discipline Kunda – Sondashi

LAZ must discipline Kunda – Sondashi
Written by George Chellah
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:13:39 PM

THE Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) must discipline Vice-President George Kunda for misleading the nation, former works and supply minister Ludwig Sondashi said yesterday.

And Sondashi advised newly-elected LAZ president Stephen Lungu to stand up and be counted because he is taking over the association at a time when the country is going down.

In an interview, Sondashi urged LAZ to institute disciplinary action against Vice-President Kunda over the manner in which he misled the nation on former communications minister Dora Siliya's case.

"I must say that it is regrettable, myself I didn't attend that [LAZ annual general meeting] because of a funeral. If I had attended that, I was going to demand that LAZ should make a resolution against George Kunda because George Kunda is a member of LAZ as a lawyer. And he is actually a State Counsel for that matter and if he misleads the country like that...and constitutionally for that matter, he is supposed to be disciplined," Sondashi said.

"So I should have demanded that we call for the disciplining of George Kunda. LAZ should definitely take measures to discipline the Vice-President because he is their member and it's very easy for him to be disciplined because you see, as lawyers we are supposed to be the guiding light of the nation. We are not supposed to mislead the nation, especially in the way George Kunda did."

He added that Lungu should realise that he had taken over the association at a very difficult time in the country.

"I call upon the new president to stand up and be counted so that we ensure that what is happening is controlled in the country," Sondashi said.

On President Rupiah Banda's accusation on LAZ of not coming out strongly to defend the courts and the helpless accused persons from being attacked by civil society and the press, Sondashi urged LAZ not to give an ear to President Banda's remarks.

"I don't think that the President is right. The way LAZ operates is that it doesn't favour, it operates independently. It does not favour anybody. And so far LAZ has been treading very well on these issues. I don't think that the President is right to say that. What he means is that he wants LAZ to support him when he says something," Sondashi said.

"For instance, he wanted LAZ to support him and to support George Kunda when they misled the nation. LAZ cannot support them because they misled the nation to say that Dora Siliya is smart. Now, did he want LAZ to support him when he said that? And yet Dora Siliya has been found by the tribunal that she abused her office and of course breached the Constitution. So LAZ cannot support that."

Sondashi also criticized the President's accusations on the media and the civil society.

"When he says the media, which media is that? I can only think that he is referring to The Post and I think what The Post has been doing is great," Sondashi said. "It is The Post, which is upholding human rights in this country in my view. The government media is doing nothing, you can see that. So as far as I’m concerned, I will uphold what The Post is doing."

He accused President Banda and Vice-President Kunda of conspiring.

"The fact that the President does not want to act on the Vice-President, it means that they have been conspiring together to do wrong things in government and we can't accept that," Sondashi said.

"For some of us as long as we are here we can't accept this country to be taken 30 years backwards. I don't think that really the President knows what he is talking about. If there are people who are writing him speeches, they must be careful."

And Lungu said the association would avail the resolutions of the annual general meeting to the media as soon as they were ready.