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Courts are under pressure from politicians – Miyanda

Courts are under pressure from politicians – Miyanda
Written by George Chellah
Saturday, July 18, 2009 9:27:42 PM

HERITAGE Party (HP) president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda yesterday observed that the court system in Zambia is under extreme pressure from politicians. Brig Gen Miyanda said it was not a secret that the court system in Zambia was under extreme pressure from politicians, especially in cases which have political undertones.

"We cannot blame them, they are human. The buck stops at the President's feet. When an African President speaks, he scares everyone. As I sat in the courtroom when [Post news editor] Ms [Chansa] Kabwela was being arraigned, I could not help but notice the huge portrait of President Banda above the magistrate's head, as though to say ‘I am watching you!’ Why should this picture be in that neutral ground? All such pictures must be removed forthwith because they are not adding value to the justice system. Instead, I get the impression that the government has perfected the system of eavesdropping. In the past, you had to have a court order to intrude on a telephone conversation," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "But now technology is so advanced that one does not need to keep following someone. They watch us at play, at the club and even in our bedrooms; if there is any pornography in Zambia it is in the government offices because Big Brother is always watching under the pretext of security. That is why I have believed for a long time that the government knows a lot about assassinations of prominent people in Zambia. Select target groups, especially politicians are constantly under surveillance even when there is not a reason to watch them."

He said Zambia was now a total police state.

"Thanks to the President and his method of handling simple investigations. According evidence before the courts, the government bought listening devices covering a distance of 300 kilometres. This means that the government can listen to conversations from Lusaka over a radius of 300 kilometres (Mumbwa, Kabwe Choma, Nyimba, Mkushi, and so on). This has serious implications on privacy as well as the judicial system. Courts conduct conferences to decide on cases," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "Imagine the President, as a party to the proceedings is hearing the other parties discussing their case with their clients. And you say you are writing a new constitution! Mr President, Big Blackman, everyone knows who actually arrested Ms Kabwela, because we saw and heard you order the arrest. Stop interfering in the system before more people are injured. I hope you will be at court to give evidence of the part you have played in this unjust affair!"

Brig Gen Miyanda said he hoped and prayed that the 10 state witnesses in Kabwela's case would be witnesses of fact.

"But I take issue with the conduct and double standards of President Rupiah Banda. I am concerned because I am seeing disturbing signs of our government receding into our dark past; behaving like a frightened person who does not know where the next blow will come from. When people are afraid or are scared they can do anything, including committing suicide. I still have some confidence in our court system even though every now and then you feel you are being short-changed," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "Our judicial system is a curious carbon copy of the British system, which is the next best thing for us, until we make and write our own. Alas, I do not believe that the NCC is making and writing a new constitution because the personalities that are at centre stage have less than noble motives in their decisions. The NCC is a complex subject; what has made it complex is the deceptive manner in which it was birthed. So it may be better to devote time to a detailed analysis of this topic later. For now all I can say is that jail is not a pleasant place to be, especially for a woman."

He said the President who was responsible for this must revisit his decision.

"Talking about double standards leads me to delve into a bit of our history that may have been forgotten. The political and independence history of Zambia will never be complete without mentioning the name of one Julia Chikamoneka. Many people think that to make history one must already have a big name. I too believe that I have a place in our history. As a young man I was always fascinated by this lady because I had heard of her story that appeared out of the ordinary and I had ever wanted to meet her. As I was growing up before independence, I had met big names such as Kenneth Kaunda, De Luxe Nkoloma, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Munukayumbwa Sipalo, Timothy Kankasa and of course Mrs Kankasa and many more; but I never met Mama Chikamoneka. My first fascination was with her name; to this day I still question whether that was her real name! I have tended to believe that it was a pseudo or protest name. Chikamoneka is a Bemba name which literary means "It will be seen" or "It will happen'," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "My meeting with her was unheralded, unplanned. Because I was indefinitely blacklisted by the Kaunda regime, I had to use unconventional ways for a General to find bread for my wife and children. The system was vicious, vindictive and ruthless. I had a big American car, a Ford Fairmont V8, a guzzler of petrol. I turned it into a taxi; I didn't care if I didn't eat but my wife and children had to eat. Because it was not a licenced taxi I had to operate at night. This is the time when taxi drivers were being killed and knifed and spiked with screwdrivers. I believe my participation in driving at night opened the way and encouraged many taxi drivers to be operating at night because money was good. Later I obtained a licence and was able to operate without let or hindrance. I still have a few friends among taxi drivers whom we were "ukubaza" together and crack jokes with them mainly at Intercontinental and Pamodzi hotels.

"One day, I was at Pamodzi waiting for a chance pick up; I saw two Caucasians, a man and a lady. They asked me to take them to Kabulonga; I did and that was the beginning of good and bad things. I took them to a private home somewhere in Kabulonga and my God did I have bread! They were generous; I asked them to give me whatever; they paid me in real money - British pounds! They asked me to pick them up again in the morning. Later, being satisfied with my dexterous performance and handling of the V8, they never wanted anyone else to drive them. Instead they asked me to park my rickety Ford and hired a new Fiat GLS; I had lucrative terms; they paid for my car which I was not using and gave me a lot of other perks. God is indeed good all the time. My hours of work changed for the better and I could be with my family; I drove them everywhere they wanted to go during the day. But as a result of this miracle contract I was reported to the authorities and was arrested and detained. While I was in prison, John Shepherd, a foreigner, was furious. He boldly asked my sister to take him to State House because he wanted to tell the President that what he had done was nonsense and that I was a good man trying to earn a living."

Brig Gen Miyanda narrated: "Government was told that I had bought a brand new car with foreign funds and that these activities were inimical to the state. Yet all they needed to do was to take the car number and trace that it was not my car; but in Zambia lies achieve much; they also destroy and injure families. My sister reminded John that he was in Africa; his intervention would result in his own detention and make my situation worse. I was touched by this type of affinity by a foreigner to a mere taxi driver! How I wish John was here when Ms Kabwela was being lambasted by the Father of the Nation. The taxi contract inadvertently resulted in meeting Mama Julia Chikamoneka. The duo, Maxine Baker the lady and John Shepherd were from the British television Granada and were here to make a three part documentary titled "End of Empire". In Zambia when this film was being shown on television, they would flip the part that showed my name very quickly so that you could not read my name. I was responsible for coordinating meetings with important people in Zambia, many of them were uncomfortable to deal with me," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "Later I was tasked to locate Mama Chikamoneka because they had heard of her and wanted to include her in the film; to them she was of historical significance. She had exposed her nakedness in public to protest the abhorrent colonial regime with its archaic laws; they had to see her to complete their research. I eventually traced her in a humble home in Kabwata. She told the Granada team her part of the story. But I was more interested in why she undressed in public and really wanted to know. Off camera I was struggling to ask her; you see she is a mother and in our culture sons do not discuss these things with their mothers. Somehow I plucked up courage and asked. She responded with a quip, very simplistically, as though there was nothing important that she had done. Addressing me affectionately as "mwanawandi - my son" she said that when you believe in something you must be ready to do anything to achieve that grand purpose. She went on to say that "these whites were too powerful and I had nothing to make them realise that we were choking with rage and frustration.

"To show my nakedness was the highest form of anger; baring my nakedness was the only weapon that I had, hoping that the Big Whiteman (Ian McLeod) who had come all the way from England would have a heart and feel for us. So I undressed in public. When I did this I did not care whether there were people watching, or whether my children would see my nakedness and laugh at me like Noah's children did in the Bible. I did not even know or care that it was an offence. All I cared for was for the Whiteman to see our suffering. Somehow I had confidence that that if he sees me naked, may be he will feel pity on us". Actually McLeod had more than a heart; he was shocked to see an elderly woman undress because of anger. He did something about it. Compare this with President Banda's calculated stage performance. He did not care about the urgent message that he had received; he manipulated it so that it appeared that the motive was less than noble."

Brig Gen Miyanda said during the last indaba, he told Zambians that the MMD was at full throttle and was in election mode.

"The conduct of the President was clearly an election gimmick, targeting a certain constituency, mainly the church. This type of behaviour will go on until elections are held; so there may be a lot of threats and arrests of people on flimsy grounds. The reason is that somehow those in office are always afraid to leave office. Look at the contradiction: President Banda publicly told the nation that after viewing the pictures, he threw them away. By so doing he was distributing the so-called pornographic pictures because he left the pictures to be picked up by any body, his security guards, children at State House, the chef, the radio operator. Perhaps it is his picture that ended up on the Internet!" Brig Gen Miyanda said. "President Banda is displaying double standards. He was in UNIP when the Chikamoneka event happened. Mama Chikamoneka contributed to our independence by undressing in public. I believe at that time this crime would be classed as "Indecent Exposure" and McLeod, the Big White Man, merely needed to order her to be killed and she would have been shot. He didn't; instead he softened up, showed his big heart and went to influence the Wind of Change that swept across the continent; and the rest in history.

"Without discussing the matter in court I wish to say that people in authority, such as presidents, must not abuse this power. Most of our legal problems have nothing to do with bad laws or a bad constitution. When leaders/politicians get into office they must strive to stop the rot that they used on their campaign trail as a means to get the vote. Most of the time they do not keep their word. That is why I am very concerned at the new Zambian culture which does not care what happens after tomorrow. We had a State of Emergency from before independence (1963) until about thirty years later - remember! Did we learn any lessons from that history?"

Labels: COURTS, GODFREY MIYANDA, JUDICIARY

posted by MrK @ 8:28 PM