Maravi

(DAILY MAIL) ‘I blocked $6.7m claim’

‘I blocked $6.7m claim’
By ANGELA CHISHIMBA

PRESIDENT Banda says he blocked the payment of US$6.7 million to Lusaka lawyer Roger Chongwe as compensation for the injuries he suffered during the 1997 Kabwe shooting incident because the amount is too excessive and unconscionable.

Mr Banda said because of the excessive claim, he instructed the Attorney General to re-engage Dr Chongwe to settle for a reasonable amount. Dr Chongwe is claiming US$2.5 million as principal claim, and additional amounts in interests, legal costs and loss of earnings, bringing the total amount to US$6.7 million.

President Banda’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere said the role President Banda played was to block the payment of US$6.7 million to Dr Chongwe because he felt it was excessive and unconscionable.

He said President Banda was concerned that the claim could set a bad precedent as there are many people with similar claims.

Mr Jere acknowledged that President Banda met Dr Chongwe in the company of the Solicitor-General at the request of the claimant.


Dr Chongwe informed the President of the pending compensation to him by Government, following his successful complaint before the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) under the optional protocol of the covenant on civil and political rights.

President Banda said the ruling from the UNHRC was recognised by the Zambian government under the leadership of both former President Frederick Chiluba and his successor Levy Mwanawasa. The dispute has, however, always been on the quantum of the damages to be paid to Dr Chongwe.

Mr Jere said in view of this, President Banda agreed that there was need to resolve the matter by re-negotiating the compensation for Dr Chongwe through the right office of the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice, George Kunda, who is the Vice-President.

He said President Banda instructed the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General to meet with Dr Chongwe and agree on a reasonable compensation to be paid.

Mr Jere said Dr Chongwe met with the Minister of Justice and later with the Attorney General and eventually agreed on the compensation without the knowledge of the President.

The Attorney General proceeded to instruct the Secretary to the Treasury in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning to pay Dr Chongwe a total of US$2.5 million as principal claim and additional amounts in interests, legal costs and loss of earnings, bringing the total amount to US$6.7 million.
He said upon noticing the figure, President Banda issued instructions in writing on November 30, 2009, to the Attorney General to stop the payment because of the huge amount involved.

“All these events took place long before the erroneous and misleading story published in The Post newspaper of December 5, 2009, under the headline “Rupiah Directs Govt to Pay Chongwe US$5.9 million”.

“The truth of the matter is that President Banda blocked the payment through written instructions on November 30, 2009. These details and sequence of events can be checked and verified with the Office of the Attorney General and, indeed, the Ministry of Justice. Let me state categorically that no amount of money has been paid to Dr Chongwe to date,” Mr Jere said.

He said President Banda has reiterated his earlier stance that it is not his wish to answer to all the constant, malicious and unfounded attacks by some media institutions and his political rivals at the expense of providing leadership to the nation.

“The President’s focus is on service delivery to the Zambian people and, therefore, he will not waste his energy and time in responding to deliberately distorted media attacks aimed at diverting his attention from serving the people,” Mr Jere said.

Labels: ROGER CHONGWE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:44 PM