Maravi

The judicial process and Rupiah’s order

The judicial process and Rupiah’s order
Written by Editor

RUPIAH Banda's order to the police to arrest Post news editor Chansa Kabwela for circulating what he called pornographic pictures was yesterday effected.

The police had no choice but to obey the order because Rupiah is not only the President of this country and head of government but he is also the commander-in-chief of all our defence, security and law enforcement agencies. So it is impossible for the police not to obey his order.

But this is not the first time this is happening. Early this year, this same Rupiah accused us of having pocketed US$ 30 million from state institutions and directed law enforcement agencies - the police, the Anti Corruption Commission and the Drug Enforcement Commission - to pursue us and ensure that this money is recovered. And since then the police, the ACC and the Drug Enforcement Commission have been pursuing us, harassing us in all sorts of ways.

It seems when it comes to Rupiah's dealings with us, this is how he uses our law enforcement agencies and indeed our whole judicial process.

One part of our judicial process has now carried out Rupiah's order - it seems the Director of Public Prosecutions as required by Section 177 (5) of Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia will have to give consent for Chansa to be prosecuted. The police have effected the arrest and have accordingly charged Chansa with circulating obscene matters or things contrary to Section 177 (1)(b) of Cap 87.

Now what remains is the other part of our judicial process - the courts - to do their part in fulfilling Rupiah's order. Rupiah publicly passed judgment on us and those pictures. He found us guilty of circulating pornographic pictures. It will be interesting to see how our courts will handle this directive and judgment of Rupiah. Are they going to disobey him and pass judgment that Rupiah was wrong, there was nothing pornographic about those pictures?

These may seem to be unnecessary questions. But they are necessary because Rupiah as President of this country plays a very big role - directly and indirectly - in the appointment of all judicial officers in this country, judges included. He is even the one who single-handedly gives contracts to judges who have reached retirement age to continue serving.

These are not petty issues because Rupiah's conduct brings into question the independence of our entire judicial process. So his abuse of the judicial process cannot be taken lightly because there is hardly a more powerful weapon, which can be abused in the hands of a corrupt and tyrannical government than that of initiating unjustified prosecutions.

The judiciary at whatever level may find itself confronting these abuses, and may find itself subjected to enormous pressures from Rupiah to accept them. Often, if the process is legal but unfair or unjust, there is very little that a court can do.

All said, we still feel no sensible, impartial tribunal can find against Chansa, can come to the conclusion that Chansa was circulating obscene material tending to corrupt morals.

It is interesting that the police in their charge have deliberately left out the words "tending to corrupt morals". Why? It is simply because they know that there was no intention in those pictures to corrupt the morals of the Vice-President, the Secretary to the Cabinet, the Minister of Health, the Archbishop of Lusaka, NGOCC and Women for Change.

We say this because the intention was clearly spelt out in the accompanying letter: "I write you to bring to your attention images that we have difficulty publishing in our newspaper of the very desperate situation at our hospitals arising from the on-going strike. I am doing this in the hope that these pictures will move you and your colleagues to take quick action and bring to an end this strike. Enclosed are the very disturbing pictures from the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka that have been brought to our newsroom." Can any sensible, any honest person claim the intention was to corrupt the morals of the people those pictures were sent to? Only a person whose mind is jaundiced by prejudice and hatred for us can ever come to the conclusion that there was intention to corrupt morals.

And we really wonder how a case of this nature can find itself in our courts of law. Only two things can explain how a case of this nature can find itself on the cause list of our courts: the desire to obey Rupiah's order and the lack of independence of our judicial process. This being the case, the question that remains is whether or not Chansa will receive a fair trial before an impartial court and get a favourable judgment that she clearly deserves. These are honest questions seeking honest answers because Chansa has been arrested and taken to court by Rupiah. The police are merely acting as agents of Rupiah in this case. The police have failed to disobey Rupiah's order. The Director of Public Prosecutions is also in a difficult situation. Refusing to grant consent for the prosecution of Chansa would mean a direct snub of Rupiah. It would be tantamount to saying Rupiah is a liar because there is no pornography in those pictures and there was no intention to corrupt anyone's morals. Probably expecting the Director of Public Prosecutions to deal with Rupiah in this manner is expecting too much.

Clearly, this case will put our entire judicial process - the police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and indeed our courts - on trial. In truth, it is not Chansa on trial. It is them who are on trial to see if they are able to discharge a public duty in an honest and impartial manner. The police has already failed the test. We don't know if we can say the same about the Director of Public Prosecutions. Now we await to see how our courts will conduct themselves.

This is how far Rupiah's abuse of the judicial process is stretching things. If we are not careful, by the time Rupiah leaves office, the respect, integrity and reputation of our entire judicial process will be in tatters. It will be easier for the police and others to recover quickly, but it will take a long time for the judiciary to recover from this if its standing in the eyes of our people is reduced or totally eroded.

It will be better for those close to Rupiah to advise him to keep himself away from the operations of the judicial process. We know it's very tempting for Rupiah because he desperately wants to land a deadly blow on us and finish us off. But desperation can sometimes be very costly. Rupiah's hatred for us and his desire to nail us to the cross is not a secret; it is something he has publicly exhibited and stated.

However, we welcome Chansa's arrest because it will give us an opportunity to set the records straight, to show the Zambian people what moved us to do what we did and judge between us and Rupiah who is more humane, more sensitive to the plight of our people. This is not an ordinary criminal case. It is a political case that has been taken to court because Rupiah could not deal with it on the political platform and win. It is a case taken to court by an extremely vengeful and dangerous politician who will stop at nothing to see the humiliation and annihilation of citizens he hates and detests the most. But Rupiah's unbridled hatred for us will backfire because when it comes to The Post, he doesn't reason - he's simply driven by hate and the emotion this generates in him. But this policy of Rupiah that is propelled by nothing but hatred will end him in grief.

It will be interesting to see who Rupiah will bring as witnesses. Are we going to have George Kunda in court as a state witness? Are we going to see Dr Joshua Kanganja as a state witness? Or is Kapembwa Simbao going to come and testify against Chansa that she sent him pornography that corrupted his mind? It will be interesting to see if Marian Munyinda is going to come from NGOCC and ask the court to send Chansa to prison for five years! What about the Women for Change? Are they going to be able to face Chansa in court and accuse her of pornography? If they do, what will become of NGOCC and Women for Change after this case?

As for us, we are very ready for this case and we would like to proceed with the hearing of the matter today. We hope Rupiah and his police will not start asking for adjournments because they are not ready. Great lessons will certainly be learnt from this case.

Labels: CHANSA KABWELA, COURTS, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 3:10 PM