Maravi

Rupiah blames Attorney General’s chambers for Siliya’s troubles

Rupiah blames Attorney General’s chambers for Siliya’s troubles
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:31:39 PM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday accused the Attorney General's chambers of having misled communications and transport minister Dora Siliya and warned that he will reorganise the chambers to avoid the recurrence of the confusion.

In a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday by President Banda's chief analyst for press and public relations Dickson Jere, the head of state claimed that Siliya was misled in her signing of the Memorandum of Understand (MoU) with RP Capital Partners Limited of Cayman Islands.

"President Banda noted that the tribunal did find as a fact that Honourable Siliya MP was somewhat misled by the confusion in the Attorney General's chambers. It is, therefore the President's decision to reorganise the Attorney General's chambers in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future," Jere stated.

"Further the President wishes to announce to the nation that he has received a letter of resignation from Honourable Ms Dora Siliya MP and Minister of Communications and Transport who has decided to step down in view of the tribunal's findings. The President has since accepted her resignation and thanked Honourable Siliya for her contributions to the government of the Republic of Zambia and the nation at large. The President wished Honourable Siliya well in her future endeavours and thanked her for the bold decision she has taken."

He noted that the statement was the initial reaction of President Banda to the tribunal's findings.

"President Banda reacts to the tribunal findings: His Excellency the President Mr Rupiah Banda on Tuesday [yesterday] released his initial reactions to the findings of the tribunal constituted to investigate the various allegations against Honourable Ms Dora Siliya MP, Minister of Communications and Transport.

The President made the following observations and decisions;

(1) President Banda thanked the Judiciary and in particular the tribunal headed by justice Dennis Chirwa for the expeditious manner it handled its proceeding. President Banda said the setting up of the tribunal and its findings showed that Zambia's Judiciary is independent and must be supported at all times," Jere stated. "

(2) President Banda said those that are not happy with the findings of the tribunal should refrain from making unwarranted statements in the press which could undermine the integrity of the Judiciary. President Banda appealed to the dissatisfied parties to follow the normal appellate procedures provided for in the law as opposed to attacking the tribunal."

He stated that President Banda noted the findings of the tribunal on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Communications and Transport and RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands.

"President Banda said he will table the matter as was intended even before the tribunal to Cabinet for determination. The nation will be kept informed on any further decision that will be taken on the matter," stated Jere. "(5) President Banda appealed to the nation not to lose focus on the various and difficult problems affecting the Zambia Telecommunications Limited (Zamtel) and in particular the workers' plight."

Jere stated that President Banda observed that Zamtel had continued incurring huge debts. When contacted for comment yesterday, Siliya sought to know the caller and upon learning that the caller was from The Post, she hung up.

On February 9, 2009, President Banda described as nonsense the argument that Siliya was illegally handling the privatisation of Zamtel. He said Siliya was on the right track regarding the partial privatisation of Zamtel. President Banda said Siliya was smarter than some of the people who were questioning her.

"As to the argument that she did it illegally, that is nonsense. First of all, when the Attorney General gives an opinion, he does not give the opinion to the public. The opinion given by the Attorney General is given to the particular client. If the Vice-President writes to the Attorney General and say 'I want your opinion on this', the Attorney General must write that letter to him. And if the minister writes to the Attorney General, the Attorney General must reply to her, not to the public," President Banda had said.

"So just that should worry you as Zambians that your country has become so lawlessness that everything that is discussed in government offices, letters are exchanged and proliferated and given to the whole world. How are you going to run this country? It is something, which, again, falls in the line of indiscipline, which means that there is a lot of indiscipline around. People are peddling government documents. So we will find a way to stop this."

And February 17, 2009 Vice-President Kunda stated: "the MoU was finally signed on 22nd December, 2008 by all the parties. Thus at the time of signing the MoU, the Solicitor General had cleared and approved the MoU which had taken into account comments of the Solicitor General. For all intents and purposes, the Solicitor general was acting on behalf of the Attorney-General."

But the tribunal found that Siliya breached Article 54 sub Article 3 of the Constitution when she selected RP Capital Partners Limited to value Zamtel's assests.

Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, DICKSON JERE, DORA SILIYA, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:33 PM