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Sangwa should declare interest on DPP – Kabimba

Sangwa should declare interest on DPP – Kabimba
By George Chellah
Tue 29 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT

LUSAKA lawyer Wynter Kabimba yesterday challenged former president Frederick Chiluba's lawyer John Sangwa to declare interest in the matter involving the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga.

Reacting to Sangwa's position on the Law Association of Zambia's (LAZ) call for Mchenga to resign, Kabimba said Sangwa should be the last person to comment on the matter. He said it is common knowledge that Sangwa's statement was a position taken by a lawyer in favour of his client against the prevailing public opinion.

“John should declare interest in this matter regarding LAZ and the DPP because it is a matter which is founded on the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba who is John Sangwa's client and whom he represented from the beginning of the trial up to the end,” Kabimba said. “It would have been honourable if John in his comment had put it clearly to the public that he has an interest in this matter because it is his client Mr Chiluba who is at the centre of this DPP's controversy.”

Kabimba said there was nothing wrong with LAZ giving guidance to the nation on matters of public interest.
“LAZ has every right as a professional association to take a position over a matter of public interest such as this controversy surrounding the DPP.

Just as much as John had a right again in defence of his clients defunct Access Financial Services directors Faustin Kabwe and Aaron Chungu to file a complaint with the Judicial Complaints Authority (JCA) when he Sangwa felt aggrieved that according to him the Chief Justice Ernest Sakala was interfering with the due process of the law over the case involving his clients. So surely as the adage goes 'what is good for the goose is good for the gander as well,” Kabimba said, adding that Sangwa's statement was not rational.

“This statement is all tainted with emotions on the part of John and not rationality. I mean to refer to LAZ in the manner which he does, as a group of vigilantes or hooligans, does not reflect a professional disposition of a senior lawyer like John Sangwa,” Kabimba said. “Lawyers are given to addressing issues and not name calling. This is a language of politicians, not of a professional.”

Kabimba said the whole statement from Sangwa made sad reading.
“If really John thought that he is as right as he is projecting himself, he should have written to LAZ. And I am sure LAZ would have given him their views and from that discourse between LAZ and John they could have found a convergence point,” Kabimba said. “More so that it is common knowledge that this is a position taken by a lawyer in favour of his client against the prevailing public opinion. So LAZ equally has a right to give a position on a matter.”

Kabimba said LAZ could not be described as hooligans for expressing an opinion on a matter of public interest.

“LAZ owes it to society, LAZ is playing its correct role to this country as a professional association. In fact, LAZ has not said that they have constitutional powers to remove the DPP. And it is not always that issues of public interest are resolved in court,” Kabimba said.

“There are moral dimensions and people can honourably exit from office without a judicial order, purely on account that their moral standing does not serve the interest of the office, which they occupy on behalf of the public. And we have incidences of honourable men who have exited public office when they found themselves in situations such as Mchenga is in today.

“One of them was chief justice James Skinner, the second one was chief justice Annel Silungwe and the third one was chief justice Matthew Ngulube. Nobody had to take them to court and they were constitutional offices just like the DPP.”

Kabimba said to implore LAZ to go to court for the removal of the DPP was completely missing the point and not appreciating the gravity of the situation Mchenga found himself in currently.

Yesterday, the state-controlled Times of Zambia quoted Sangwa as having said that it was lawlessness for LAZ to champion the resignation of the DPP.
He urged LAZ to take the matter to court if it had enough evidence that the DPP's action was against the law. Sangwa advised LAZ to desist from behaving like hooligans or vigilantes who worked without evidence.

Sangwa said LAZ was not supposed to undermine a legal institution because its obligation was to strengthen it and that those without evidence should learn to accept the outcome of cases.

He said LAZ was supposed to be operating as a statutory body with specific obligations under the law by providing guidance and not like NGOs. He also noted that in the current discussion, LAZ could only question the DPP's actions to withdraw Chiluba's appeal if it had enough evidence that the DPP's action was tainted.

Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, DPP, JOHN SANGWA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 4:30 AM