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LAZ has exposed Mchenga’s incompetence, says Lubinda

LAZ has exposed Mchenga’s incompetence, says Lubinda
Written by George Chellah
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:38:20 PM

AFRICAN Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) president Given Lubinda yesterday said the position taken by LAZ on Frederick Chiluba's acquittal has exposed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga's incompetence and insincerity.

But Chiluba's spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba dismissed LAZ's position, adding that the association should be protecting the decisions of the DPP and not promoting anarchy.

Commenting on the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ)'s statement that Mchenga should have appealed against former president Chiluba's acquittal because there are enough grounds for the appeal, Lubinda said it was clear that Chiluba's acquittal was engineered from State House.

"There is no doubt that Chiluba's acquittal was a political rather than a judicial decision. All those arguing that there are insufficient grounds of appeal are just economising on the truth. LAZ has a number of functions including advising society on matters of the law," Lubinda said. "In this particular case, LAZ has come out clearly to state that there are sufficient grounds on which the government should have appealed the acquittal of Chiluba. If Rupiah Banda wants to come out clean on this matter he should ensure that the DPP proceeds with the people's appeal."

He said the appeal against the acquittal was not President Banda's personal appeal but an appeal demanded by the people of Zambia.

He said the observation from LAZ was interesting particularly that it was a professional body to which Mchenga was a member.

Lubinda said LAZ had shown Mchenga's insincerity.

"This vindicates us for calling for the dismissal or resignation of the DPP. He has been exposed as being an officer who is bending down to satisfy the political egos of those in power and that is against the Constitution," Lubinda said. "It's against the law because the DPP is supposed to operate without any directive from anywhere not even State House, not even George Kunda or Mulongoti."

He said Mchenga should vacate office otherwise the opposition would commence the process in Parliament for him to be forced to vacate office.

"We cannot have a DPP who is not capable of interpreting a judgment, that's very dangerous for us as a country. The DPP must be one who is capable of descerning what legal judgment mean," Lubinda said. "In this particular case, he has proved to the Zambian people to be a failure in interpreting legal judgments and we cannot have Mchenga as DPP. So he must resign before we force him out of that office."

But Mwamba said LAZ knows the position of the DPP in the Constitution.

"LAZ knows the preserve to appeal or not to appeal...it's only in the DPP. By inference LAZ is not respecting the judgment. In our understanding the judgment is thorough, it has dealt with the allegations and evidence properly," Mwamba said. "The perceived pressure for the DPP to appeal is just political and it shows that the argument is not founded in law because if it's founded in law they ought to respect the verdict of the court."

He said LAZ should be the last ones to call for an appeal.

"They should not join the fray calling for the appeal, looking at their position in the country. The purported grounds of appeal were not properly crafted and there is no integrity as they attempted to use a dubious process to enter that appeal in the courts," Mwamba said. "On matters relating to law like the immunity and the appeal we expect LAZ to give an informed opinion and guidance to the country. LAZ ought to understand that they should be protecting the decisions of the DPP owing to its position in the country."

He accused LAZ of promoting a notion that the only good verdict on the Chiluba case would be a conviction.

"And that is folly in law. If LAZ looks at the merits of the case, the evidence before court and the allegations I do not think any other court will come up with a different verdict on the US $500,000," he said.

Mwamba said the push for an appeal appeared academic.

"The motive is to trap Dr Chiluba in court for his entire life. It has taken us eight years to arrive at this verdict. We don't know how long it would take us at the High Court or even Supreme Court. LAZ appears quick to defend illegal institutions and processes," Mwamba said. "We urge them not to promote anarchy. We know an appeal is a right. The DPP has not appealed so far so LAZ should support that position. Why are they quick to jump on arguments that show that the verdict is not founded in law and facts."

Last week, LAZ president Stephen Lungu said Mchenga should have allowed the appeal to proceed.

"That was a matter that the DPP should have appealed. The DPP should have appealed that matter. We are very much aware that the Constitution gives the DPP the right to determine the path of the matter, but this matter is one matter of public interest. And going through [the judgment], he may have a different opinion, but going through the judgment, we tend to believe that there was quite good ground [for the appeal]," Lungu said. "What I am trying to say is when one reads the judgment, one would then believe, looking at the evidence and what was read, there could have been good grounds to appeals."

Asked on the way forward on the matter especially that the stipulated two weeks in which one can appeal against a judgment elapsed when Mchenga said he was studying the matter, Lungu responded: "Particularly that's the same question that we would ask. He did say that he would want to study the judgment; we know that he has had a copy of the judgment for some time because, yes, he did indicate from what we read that he needed to study the judgment before he could consider. But our view is that if he has considered that, it will be nice if he came out and explained."

Lungu said it would be good for Mchenga to allay people's anxieties by explaining the way forward on the matter.

"But in our view, looking at the judgment, it's a judgment that we feel he could have appealed," Lungu said.

Asked on what the people could do on the matter, Lungu responded: "Well, you see the problem that we've got here is you have got powers that are vested in one person and it is that person who must decide. The Constitution gives him that power. That is where our apprehension is on this particular [issue]."

Lungu said Mchenga derived his authority from the Constitution, therefore he should make his determination based on what the Constitution stipulated.

Labels: APNAC, CHALWE MCHENGA, GIVEN LUBINDA, LAZ

posted by MrK @ 4:38 PM