Maravi

Sondashi challenges Lungu to state where his allegiance lies

Sondashi challenges Lungu to state where his allegiance lies
Written by George Chellah
Friday, October 02, 2009 8:29:45 AM

LUSAKA lawyer Ludwig Sondashi yesterday challenged Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu to come out in the open and tell the nation whether or not he is supporting President Rupiah Banda's corrupt government. Sondashi urged Lungu to state where his allegiance lies - whether it is with President Banda's administration or the Zambian people.

"The LAZ president must come out in the open if he is supporting this corrupt government. Let him say so quickly so that we can put in place adequate measures to deal with him...so that some of us can decide at the next LAZ election and remove him," Sondashi said in an interview.

Sondashi, who is also president of Forum for Democratic Alternatives (FDA), dismissed LAZ's call for lawyers to stop commenting on matters.

"LAZ has no justification to stop senior lawyers from commenting. As long as LAZ does not appear to provide guidance to the country on time, we shall continue to comment," he said.

Sondashi advised LAZ to accept their mistakes.

"LAZ has to admit, they know that what the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did was wrong. But they waited until there was public pressure that's when they commented on the matter," Sondashi said. "They won't stop us from commenting because we cannot allow this government to take us 50 years backwards. They should just keep quiet."

Sondashi warned that the current LAZ executive risked being removed from office.

"I will attend the next LAZ meeting. The LAZ executive, if they don't change we shall vote them out of office. We shall remove this executive as members," Sondashi said.

On Tuesday, Lungu told the press that LAZ had an obligation to the public to provide counsel on issues that relate to the advancement of the rule of law. He explained that LAZ did not comment on Chiluba's acquittal, despite the many statements on the matter from various sections of society, because they had not read the judgment at the time. He said LAZ needed to understand the circumstances that led to Chiluba's acquittal before they could issue any statement.

Lungu said LAZ only got a copy of the judgment on September 8, 2009, as that was the day it was ready for distribution.

"For those that attended court on the day of the judgment, they will attest that the court read out a hand written judgment and a promise was made that it would be typed and signed later. During the interim period, however, we received numerous queries on what our position was on the matter but we advised that it was not possible for us to comment because we had not read the judgment and of late it was becoming apparent that people expected LAZ to have a position earlier than when we finally spoke out on the matter," he said.

He said any prudent lawyer knows that he cannot provide advice unless he has read the law.

"It is therefore disappointing to read about lawyers, some senior lawyers at bar who are supposed to be the leaders of the bar making statements that are alarming and which cannot be substantiated," Lungu said.

Lungu reiterated that the matter involving Chiluba was appealable going through the judgment.

Labels: LAZ, LUDWIG SONDASHI, RUPIAH BANDA, STEPHEN LUNGU

posted by MrK @ 7:31 AM