Maravi

Rupiah and Chiluba’s acquittal

Rupiah and Chiluba’s acquittal
Written by Editor

"If Chiluba had not been acquitted and was found guilty, that would have been a miserable day for me because I would have to think: 'Where am I going to keep a former president? Can I allow a former president to go to prison? Can I allow him to sleep on the floor?" This is what Rupiah Banda told a closed-door meeting of public service workers at Kasama's Sinamu Lodge last Sunday evening.

Rupiah went on to add: "Yes, you hate the guy but you have to think through that he was your president particularly here in Northern Province and Luapula. In addition to the cases for which he has been accused of, he did a lot for Zambia. He liberated the people of Zambia for the second time. There was a one party state in the country of which I was part of that government."

Is there anything like equality before the law in Rupiah's mind? Does Rupiah understand the meaning of the rule of law? Does Rupiah know what is meant by the phrase "no one is above the law"?

At the risk of sounding boring and repetitive, the right to equality before the law is fundamental to any just and democratic society. Any society where there is no equality before the law cannot claim to be just and democratic. It is as simple as that.

Why should Rupiah be worried about where he was going to keep Frederick Chiluba if he had been found guilty? We have many prisons where all convicted people go regardless of their social status.

And our Constitution and laws do not discriminate on the basis of social status as to where one should go if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. Chiluba himself sent Dr Kenneth Kaunda to Mukobeko Maxim Prison on trumped-up treason charges. Dr Kaunda was detained there without trial, without being convicted in court of law.

Wasn't Dr Kaunda a former president? What is special about this little and shameless thief of Rupiah? We have traditional rulers, chiefs being imprisoned in this country and serving time in the same jails to which their subjects go. What is special about this shameless plunderer?

Being president does not make one a special citizen, does not make one above the law and other citizens. And this is why our lawmakers and the drafters of our Constitution never provided special prisons or special laws or courts for presidents or former presidents when they steal or commit crimes and are convicted and sentenced to prison terms.

It is simply because there is a belief in the right to equality before the law. Whether former president or poor peasant - all are entitled to equality before the law.

Of course, the democratic state cannot guarantee that life will treat everyone equally, and it has no responsibility to do so. However, under no circumstances should Rupiah impose additional inequalities; his government or the state that he heads should be required to deal evenly and equally with all its people regardless of the positions they occupied in society before being sentenced to a prison term or whatever merits they may have and contributions they might have made to society.

Rupiah goes on to say: "The issues that president Chiluba found himself in, I was not even there. When I came as vice president, by that time, Chiluba was already being judged. He was not found guilty. But now I am being told you must go back to court. You must appeal. I am not a robot to be told to do what everybody is telling me without thinking through. If Mchenga wants to appeal, let him appeal. I don't interfere with the judiciary whatsoever. I have consulted deeply over this matter. My feeling is that it is not my business to take president Chiluba back to court. You may not like it, but that is it. It is not my business. It is the business of those who earn their livelihood from taking people out there like the DPP."

It requires little intelligence - if a little is all one has - to realise Rupiah's position on the acquittal of Chiluba and the stopping of the appeal proceedings against his acquittal. Liars easily forget what they said yesterday. Rupiah has forgotten what he said when dismissing Task Force chairman Max Nkole following his decision to appeal against Chiluba's acquittal. There is no doubt the decision to withdraw the appeal against Chiluba's acquittal was Rupiah's. Mchenga simply implemented that decision as he had done in the Kashiwa Bulaya nolle prosequi saga a few years ago. We all know who Chalwe Mchenga is - a spineless character who will never have the courage to go against the will of those in power. He connived with George Kunda and Levy Mwanawasa to grant Bulaya a nolle prosequi and later reinstate the case when his masters felt the political pressure was too much for them. This is clearly not Mchenga's decision; he is just there to carry out the wishes of his masters. And Rupiah has stated it very clearly that his wish was to have Chiluba acquitted and he got it. And it was also his wish to ensure that there are no further proceedings against Chiluba and he also got it.

Rupiah claims Chiluba is an innocent man when his government is holding a judgment against Chiluba obtained in the London High Court. And this judgment is asking Chiluba to pay back over US$ 40 million to the Zambian people - an amount far above the US$ 8 million Chiluba claims to have laundered through the Zambian intelligence Zamtrop account. With this attitude, with what Rupiah is today saying, how is his government going to recover this money from Chiluba? Clearly, one doesn't need much intelligence to realise that the Zambian people will not get justice from Chiluba as long as Rupiah is President. But we are reminded in Proverbs 18:5: "It is not right to favour the guilty and keep the innocent from receiving justice."

Today Rupiah may think he is clever and can do and say whatever he wants, but soon he will have to live up to the consequences of everything he is saying and doing. Their deals to rob the Zambian people of justice will not take them far. What they are getting by dishonesty they may enjoy like the finest food, but sooner or later it will be like a mouthful of sand. What they are getting by dishonesty will disappear soon, but not before it leads them into the jaws of death. Guilty people walk a crooked path, the innocent do what is right.

And when justice is done, good people are happy, but evil people are brought to despair. The wicked people bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause good people. If you plant the seeds of injustice, disaster will spring up, and your deceit and manipulation of others will end. It is said that truth, wisdom, learning, and good sense - these are worth paying for, but too valuable to sell.

The issues that were worrying Rupiah about what he would do if Chiluba was convicted are neither here nor there for an honest and just president. We have the recent example of Taiwan. Chen Shui-bian, the former Taiwan president, was sentenced to life in prison for corruption last month, completing the fall from grace of the one-time champion of democratisation and human rights.

Judge Tsai Shou-hsun gave Chen the maximum sentence and fined him US$ 6.1 million. His wife, Wu Shu-jen, was also convicted of corruption, given a life sentence and fined US$ 9.1 million but was spared from going to prison because of her frail health. Sentencing them, judge Tsai said: "One person's greed has caused chaos throughout the whole country.

The guilty verdict on charges of embezzling state funds, accepting construction kickbacks and money laundering was a remarkable comedown for Chen, the only opposition politician in an ethnic Chinese society to ever win election to lead government. During his two terms in office, Chen was a lighting rod for China which took alarm at his promotion of Taiwan as a separate state and culture.

Chen's son received a 30-month sentence and his daughter-in-law 20 months for helping the former first couple launder money overseas, adding to shorter sentences received a week before pleading guilty to lesser charges. Chen's daughter received a 6-month sentence.

This is what justice means. This is what equality before the law means and not the Rupiah way.

And Rupiah has urged people to refrain from fabricating lies about innocent people: "When you are making criticism, you express it in a civilised manner within the rules of democracy which demands that you don't lie about other people." We totally agree with this. But there is a problem here because Rupiah is not practicing what he is preaching. Rupiah has lied about us. Rupiah has accused us without any bit of evidence whatsoever that we have pocketed US$ 30 million from state institutions through Zambian Airways.

Rupiah has gone on further to accuse us of being queer, morbid and so on and so forth, again without any evidence whatsoever, a total lie. So what is this liar talking about? What is this liar preaching about? It doesn't make sense for Rupiah to call others to virtues which he himself does not make an effort to practice. We ask Rupiah to respect himself and to be exemplary in his daily life.

Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:35 PM