Maravi

Zambians to honk, whistle against Chiluba’s acquittal

Zambians to honk, whistle against Chiluba’s acquittal
Written by George Chellah
Thursday, October 01, 2009 1:10:15 AM

A Consortium of 18 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) yesterday warned that they shall adopt some of the anti-third term campaign strategies in support of the demands for an appeal against Frederick Chiluba's acquittal.

During a press conference, which was also attended by Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu at Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) secretariat, Caritas Zambia executive director Sam Mulafulafu advised Zambians who were worried about corruption to wear black and honk or whistle every Friday at 17:00 hours for 10 minutes.

Mulafulafu, who represented the other organisations, said civil society organisations stopped former president Chiluba's third term bid and were determined to use the same system to advocate for the appeal against his acquittal to be heard.

"We call upon all Zambians who love this country and are worried about corruption to wear black and honk or whistle every Friday at 17:00 hours for 10 minutes. We call upon all ministers and senior government officials who hate corruption to join in this campaign. We stopped Dr Chiluba from going for a third term, we are determined to use the same system to advocate for this appeal to be heard. This is not about causing anarchy as government would want the people to believe, this is a fight for justice," Mulafulafu said.

He demanded that Vice-President and justice minister George Kunda and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga step down from their offices for failing the Zambian people.

Mulafulafu said the judge-in-charge of the Lusaka High Court and if necessary the Chief Justice must exercise supervisory jurisdiction and call the case record in the Chiluba case and review it.

He said the government ministers including the Republican President must stop intimidating Zambians who had totally refused to accept the acquittal of Chiluba.

"Our rights should not be violated simply because government are more interested in maintaining general harmony than promoting the rule of law; we find it annoying that government finds the actions of those of us who are opposed to this acquittal as causing anarchy and yet government is quiet when cadres march in solidarity with Dr Chiluba," he said. "We will not accept these double standards anymore, that the Judiciary should rise to the occasion and ensure that judicial system is not biased and compromised to serve narrow political interests of the governors. We demand for one justice system for all Zambians - rich or poor and we demand that Dr Chiluba should stop abusing God's name in this case as Hon Mulongoti clearly stated that his regime stole money."

He said the CSOs would petition the Speaker of the National Assembly not to entertain Chiluba's request for restoration of his immunity.

He said the organisations would picket Parliament for a number of days, if need be, to make their views on the matter known.

"In much the same way that we picketed at Parliament demanding for the lifting of Dr Chiluba's immunity, we will mobilise the general public to demonstrate against the restoration of the immunity - not until all cases are concluded. We shall immediately embark on nationwide campaigns to demand for the appeal process against the acquittal of Dr Chiluba to go head without any hindrance," Mulafulafu said. "Our nationwide campaigns will equally sensitise the Zambian people to guard our justice system jealously and ensure that it is not compromised for political gain. We are devising several strategies to involve the Zambians who want to make a contribution to cleaning up this country of corruption and other malpractices. For a start, we shall adopt some of the strategies, which worked very well during the anti-third term campaign including honking and whistling to show support for the calls for the appeal and fight the ugly spectacle of corruption that this country is witnessing."

He said the entire Chiluba case was a clear testimony of the current government's lack of political will to fight corruption.

Mulafulafu said this lack of political will had unfortunately exerted a lot of pressure on the Judiciary to start making political instead of legal judgments.

He said their cry was to have a Zambia that had one land, one nation, and one law as opposed to two laws - one for the poor and another for the rich and powerful.

On the judgment, Mulafulafu said the CSOs categorically affirmed their respect for the dignity and independence of the Judiciary as provided for in the Constitution of Zambia.

He said the organisations recognised and desired that the Judiciary remained insulated from criticism but hoped that the Judiciary discharged its functions in an unbiased manner and above any reproach.

"That is the litmus test for our Judiciary - it will not help us as a people to turn a blind eye to acts of omission and compromise by the Judiciary despite the respect that we accord this arm of government," Mulafulafu said. "Indeed, we do acknowledge that any court process could lead to either a conviction or an acquittal and that the reactions to any judgment will either bring about contentment or discontent as the case maybe. As Civil Society Organisations, we fall in the category of those Zambians who are saddened by the judgment of the learned magistrate Honourable Jones Chinyama. This reaction is based on the type and quality of evidence adduced before the court, which in our view, adequately supported the case of impropriety on the part of Dr Frederick Chiluba who illegally benefited from public funds in the Zamtrop account.

"We are not alone in this belief because even the government of the late president Dr Levy Mwanawasa SC also strongly supported this position as evidenced by the statement made by the then chief government spokesperson Hon. Mike Mulongoti when he plainly stated government's position on Dr Chiluba's defence that he had kept his personal money in the Zamtrop account when he was quoted by the Times of Zambia in its edition of Saturday, May 12, 2007, Mr Mulongoti said; '...the advice that the former president puts his personal money into a Zamtrop account could only have been given on account that the sources were illegal and the public did not have to know about them'."

He said the judgment attracted more questions than answers.

Mulafulafu reminded the public that Auditor General Anna Chifungula, who was called by the defence to testify in the matter, said one could not put private money in a government account and that in the event that this happened, that money could be forfeited to the state.

He said assuming that Chiluba had money in the Zamtrop account, the court should have noted the requirement for Chiluba to prove the source and ownership of the money at the defence stage.

"This was not done and it leaves everything to conjecture as to the source of the funds which the former president is now claiming to be his. The implication of the judgment is that public and/or elected officials can now knowingly and willingly deposit their private funds in a government account without facing the consequence of the law, especially if there is suspicion to the sources of the funds and the intended use. There are a number of other points of inconsistency in the judgment, which makes it difficult for us to appreciate and indeed accept the innocence that it bestows on Dr Chiluba," he said.

He said the CSOs found the judgment highly questionable and were not surprised that it attracted a lot of criticism, with some questions to be answered by the government.

"It is difficult to ignore the statements by different government leaders which all go to explain the growing political interest in these matters.

There are several aspects of this judgment, which give an indication of possible political interference. Our view, point has been confirmed by utterances by Hon Mike Mulongoti that jailing Dr Chiluba would have been costly and that some people should be able to go to jail while others remain. Hon Mike Mulongoti further said:

"We consider the general harmony in the country. Even courts are sensitive to the political situation in the country. You cannot just say, jail everyone. No, there is forgiveness, there is reconciliation. Everything is there. So Chiluba, whether we like it or not, he was president of Zambia. Not everyone hates Chiluba. There are wrong things he did, there are also good things he did" (The Post newspapers of Monday, September 21 2009)," Mulafulafu said. "It is such statements from high ranking government officials which convince us that this matter was handled carelessly and politicised by the government. Hon Mulongoti's statement clearly demonstrates that the judgment was politically engineered as he implicitly admits that Chiluba did some wrong things but the courts of law were made to dance to the tune of the political sensitivity in the country instead of concentrating on the legal provisions."

Mulafulafu said the CSOs had studied the judgment and have noted a number of flaws.

"... the magistrate neglected to consider finding the accused of the commission of a minor or alternative offence, the learned trial magistrate breached the rules of criminal procedure when he decided to exclude otherwise admissible evidence after it had been admitted by himself, there is also an irregularity on the no case to answer stage or case to answer stage, there are also a number of procedural issues that were not complied with and the weight attached to the unsworn evidence by Dr Chiluba," he said.

Mulafulafu said it could not be denied that Chiluba's case was a high profile one and it outcome had several implications on the local and international levels.

He said judgment had the potential to completely erode public confidence and trust in the justice system and judiciary in Zambia while Zambia's governance record would undoubtedly come under intense international scrutiny and the country's reputation would be called into question. He said the ruling that Chiluba was not a public servant had the potential of creating comfort zones where elected leaders could plunder public resources with impunity and also raised unnecessary confusion on whether elected leaders were public officials or not. He said the judgment set a bad precedent on the utilisation of public funds.

"This is why we welcome the stance of cooperating partners who have expressed concern to ensure that public funds that include tax payers money from their respective countries is well utilised," Mulafulafu said.

He also gave the CSOs position on the question of the appeal saying it against the provisions in the Constitution for Vice-President George Kunda to say it would be professional misconduct for the DPP to appeal against Chiluba's acquittal. He said the CSOs wish to reiterate the reality Mchenga misled the public by purporting that he needed to grant fresh permission to the prosecutor to appeal.

"...Mr Mchenga has thus betrayed public interest by withdrawing the appeal from the higher court especially that the grounds for appeal have merit. In fact, the position of LAZ is clear that there were enough grounds for the DPP to appeal. As civil society organisations we strongly endorse the action of the public prosecutors to appeal which was withdrawn in questionable circumstances by Mr Mchenga."

He said they disagree with Vice-President Kunda who said the case had no appellable merits.

"It seems Honourable Kunda has forgotten that he was once Justice Minister and Attorney General during the Mwanawasa era who on behalf of the Zambian government took Dr Chiluba to court and articulated himself very well about the merits of this case. These unfortunate events in the history of judicial system have eroded credibility of the office of the DPP and that of the Minister of Justice. It is crystal clear that these two public officers have failed to protect and uphold the Republican Constitution," he said.

He said as concerned CSOs they have also noted with dismay the high level of pretence exhibited by the Vice-President and some ministers over Chiluba's acquittal.

"It is interesting to note that the same ministers who were castigating Dr. Chiluba when the late Dr Levy Mwanawasa was President have now turned against what they were saying at that time. We want to remind Zambians on what government's position was when president Mwanawasa was alive and Hon Mike Mulongoti was chief government spokesman and we quote as follows; Times of Zambia, Saturday, May 12, 2007: Main Headline; Don't Incite Zambians, Mulongoti tells FJT...'Government has said former president, Frederick Chiluba, should have defended himself in the London High Court than attempt to incite Zambians to rise against the Government. Chief government spokesperson, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Mike Mulongoti said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday that Dr Chiluba as a defendant was entitled to his opinion about the London High Court and could have argued in court if he did not refuse to defend himself. He said he was particularly concerned with Dr Chiluba's attempt to summon the people of Zambia to his side but that government has a duty to protect interests of the people when their funds are alleged to have been put to personal use by leaders like former president Chiluba whom they had entrusted to run their affairs. 'Having failed to explain how much was donated and by who and considering that what was withdrawn from the Zamtrop account followed in-flows from the Government, the judge concluded that all the money belonged to the State,' Mike Mulongoti said," Mulafulafu said as the audience shouted shame! Shame! "Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Friday November 30, 2007, Headline, Mulongoti Challenges FTJ over allegations. 'Mr Mike Mulongoti castigated Dr Chiluba and we quote: 'Dr Chiluba was telling lies that Government departments had been requested to transfer their insurance policies from the Zambia State Insurance Corporation to Professional Insurance Corporation. Dr Chiluba was found liable of theft of public funds by a London Court and was still appearing in court of other cases and that was evident of how bad his regime was. Millions of Dollars were not only misappropriated by government officials but were also stolen by some former leaders who were now masquerade ring as angels.'

"Zambia Daily Mail, Headline, ‘Chiluba's complaint baseless - Mulongoti. Chief government spokesperson, Mike Mulongoti, says there is no basis for former president, Frederick Chiluba, to accuse his successor, Levy Mwanawasa, of working with Britain to secure his conviction in cases of alleged corrupt practices. 'I have difficulties to find any basis for Dr Chiluba to say the President has connived with Britain to secure his conviction.' Mr Mulongoti said the British court had no interest in Dr Chiluba because it was merely helping Zambians to determine whether or not their complaints against the former head of State over alleged theft of public resources were justified.'"

Mulafulafu said in all these statements, Mulongoti was very clear that Chiluba's regime was involved in theft of public funds.

"We now wonder why he has changed position," he said.

On the London judgment, Mulafulafu said they were keenly following the process.

"... We fully recognise that the process of registering the London High Court judgment is before the courts of law and it is not our intention to be contemptuous by commenting on this process. However, we would like to register our concern about the inordinate delays that this process has encountered. We would want to encourage the judiciary to expeditiously complete this process. We wish to serve notice as well that we are keenly following this process and eager to see the final outcomes. We know that the London High Court Judgment is in extent of $400 million if you put all the defendants together and we do note that government through the Taskforce has already started recovering some of the money from other defendants apart from Dr Chiluba," Mulafulafu said. "We commend the Task Force for some of the recoveries made so far against Mr Attan Shansonga, one of the co defendants. Former Task Force chairperson Mr Max Nkole confirmed to the nation that Boutique Basili who was making the shoes and suits for Dr Chiluba has since paid back the funds that the Boutique received. We are happy as CSO's that others have started paying back these funds and we look forward to the completion of the London judgment. In short, the London judgment confirms that Dr. Chiluba still has outstanding cases, which need to be concluded accordingly. It is in the best interest of all Zambians to ensure that government must recover all public funds."

On Chiluba's immunity, Mulafulafu said the Task Force still has several cases, which are still outstanding.

"This is a point that cannot be disputed or ignored. We therefore wonder why Dr Chiluba expressly wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly requesting the restoration of his immunity. The Task Force has publicly confirmed that they are investigating him on a case involving US $20 million for the arms that were not delivered. Other matters still outstanding involve the Carlington maize saga involving $US8.5 million, (apparently Mr Chiluba claims the similar amount of US $8million as personal money in the Zamtrop account whose sources are unknown)," Mulafulafu said. "The criteria of restoring Chiluba's immunity has already been said not to be in existence in the Constitution. We would like to strongly appeal to the Speaker of the National Assembly not to entertain Chiluba's request to restore his immunity. If Dr Chiluba strongly thinks that he is innocent of any wrongdoing, we wonder why he is in a hurry to have his immunity restored."

The notables who attended the press conference were veteran politician Simon Zukas, General Malimba Masheke, LAZ president Stephen Lungu, former Task Force chairman Mark Chona and women rights activists Sarah Longwe, among others. A number of plain-clothed officers from the police intelligence based at State House were also present.

The CSOs that signed the statement are Caritas Zambia, TIZ, NGOCC, Women for Change, FODEP, JCTR, SACCORD, Young Leaders' Integrity Alliance (YLIA), Zambia Council for Social Development, Citizens Forum, Zambia Civic Education Association, AVAP, CSPR, Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia, Change Life Zambia, Zambia Youths Association in the Fight Against Corruption, National Youth Anti Corruption Movement and Network of African Youth Against Corruption.

Labels: CHILUBA

posted by MrK @ 12:11 AM