Maravi

Things will backfire

Things will backfire
By Editor
Wed 07 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT

We have repeatedly reminded Rupiah Banda and those in government with him that the exercise of power must be the constant practice of self-limitation and modesty. But it would appear that the practice of self-limitation and modesty is an impossibility for them.

We have also repeatedly reminded them of the fact that when we talk about corruption, we include abuse of power and arrogance or lack of humility. It requires little intelligence - if a little is all one has - to realise that Rupiah and those around him are abusing our country’s judicial process to victimise, harass and humiliate their political opponents, real or perceived.

When Edith Nawakwi was their darling, going around the country campaigning for them, they decided to drop all allegations of corruption against her. They stopped the Carlington maize case from going to court and directed the closure of that matter.

Today that Edith is no longer with them politically and she is not hesitating to point out their inefficiencies, deficiencies and indeed the fallacies of their policies, Lameck Mangani, Rupiah’s Minister of Home Affairs, is threatening Edith with the revival of the Carlington case. What does this mean?

It simply means that if you are close to Rupiah, if you are in harmony with him, you will not be prosecuted for any wrong that you do. You will even be forgiven on matters that are already in our courts of law. Arrangements will be made to secure your acquittal and ensure that the state does not appeal when that happens. This is what happened in the case of Chiluba in which a magistrate acquitted him without any reasonable justification and law or otherwise. And no honest person has failed to see that Chiluba’s acquittal was secured for him politically. This is further confirmed by Rupiah’s refusal to have the matter appealed. This is a serious abuse of the judicial process for which Rupiah and all those involved in this matter will have to answer for when they leave office. Rupiah’s presidential immunity will certainly be lifted and have him prosecuted for corruption on the acquittal of Chiluba. This is so because what they have done is a very serious act of corruption and has the consequence of destroying the credibility of our whole judicial process. And we all know what happens to a country when citizens lose respect for the judicial process.

Lameck should ask George Kunda why they had decided to stop the Carlington maize case. There has been no further investigations on the matter since it was stopped. Therefore, there is no new evidence that they can claim to have on this issue to compel them to reopen the matter. The only discernible reason for them reopening this matter is their desire to fix Edith and politically humiliate her so that she stops going for them.

Everyone who opposes them is threatened with some criminal charges of one sort or another. Today Lameck is threatening Wynter Kabimba with an investigation and a possible prosecution for acquiring a house from the Lusaka City Council where he was town clerk at K500,000.

Like in the Carlington maize case, Lameck is forgetting that it was Chiluba who was behind the sale of all government and council houses. In many cases, it was Chiluba himself who personally fixed the sale price. And there are no government or council houses that were sold at market value or any price close to that. They were all sold far much below market value. And if one has to pursue Wynter for buying a house at K500,000, then many people who purchased government and council houses will have to be similarly pursued. And this will include Chiluba himself who was fixing prices in some of the cases. And in the Carlington case, Chiluba will also have to be pursued for his role in it.

Clearly, what this shows is that Rupiah and his minions do not know how to respond to political attacks without resorting to abuse of the public offices they hold. But surely, there are a few things they can learn from the mistakes of their friend Chiluba. He used to abuse power in the same way. Who didn’t Chiluba victimise? Whoever dared to challenge him was in one way or another accused of some crime. Dr Kenneth Kaunda was a victim of Chiluba’s abuse of power. Even this same Rupiah was Chiluba’s guest in prison over trumped-up treason charges which went nowhere. Yes, we all make mistakes, but we should learn from mistakes. An old refrain says that humans are the only animal who stubs their toe on the same stone twice. This is especially so if that stone is politics, the struggle for power or to retain power.

From the look of things, it is very highly likely that Rupiah will end up the same way as Chiluba: he will be prosecuted for corruption, abuse of power or even violation of human rights.

They can abuse the judicial process today and get away with it because those running our judicial process today want favours from them, are their agents and friends whom they have appointed or promoted. But the time will come for reckoning. Things change. What looks unchangeable today, tomorrow disappears like a candle light in a storm. Political power is a very temporal thing. And this is why we have repeatedly said that if one is honest, truly honest, one won’t be corrupted. If one is unassuming and has a clear understanding of the worth of people and of oneself, one won’t be corrupted. Humans tend to make a fool of themselves when they start to think too much about how powerful they are as individuals. If one has a true measure of the power of people as individuals, one will know that it is so fragile and such a small thing that it really doesn’t make sense to magnify one’s worth as an individual no matter what position they occupy in society. Moreover, life is like a big wheel: the one who is at the top today, tomorrow is at the bottom. It therefore doesn’t make sense for Rupiah and his minions to think they can abuse the judicial process of our country and permanently get away with it. Their abuses are known. The tenderprenuership they are in today is also very well known. All these contracts they are involved in and the benefits they have derived from them are also very well known. It’s just a matter of time before everything turns sour.

But with all their corruption, one thing one would have expected them to pay a lot of attention to is the rule of law so that when they are out of power they will at least receive fair treatment before the law. The right to equality before the law is fundamental to any just society. Whether political ally of those in power or an opponent of theirs, all are entitled to equal protection before the law. And as we have started before, the democratic state cannot guarantee that life will treat everyone equally, and it has no responsibility to do so. However, under no circumstances should those in power impose additional inequalities; they should be required to deal evenly and equally with all our people. No one is above the law – including Rupiah himself.

But we know from history, including the history of our own country, that those who administer the criminal justice system hold power with the potential for abuse and tyranny. In the name of the state, individuals have been imprisoned, have had their property seized, and have been tortured without legal justification. No just, fair or democratic society can tolerate such abuses.

Here, we are not saying that if Edith, Wynter or someone else belonging to the opposition has done something wrong, have committed a crime, they shouldn’t be arrested and prosecuted. All that we are saying is that there should be equal treatment before the law. Every state must have the power to maintain order and punish criminal acts, but the rules and procedures by which the state enforces its laws must be public and explicit, not secret, arbitrary or subject to political manipulation by those in power.

There is hardly a more powerful weapon which can be abused in the hands of a corrupt government than that of initiating and discontinuing prosecutions.

Corrupt politicians have abused the prosecution process by harassing opponents of a regime through unjustifiable prosecutions, or by exempting their own supporters from liability for illegal acts through the abuse of the judicial process and the powers that they have over it. This cannot be allowed to continue in our country. Before they can move on Edith over the Carlington maize case, Kunda should explain why they had dropped this case in the first place. And Kunda shouldn’t think the Zambian people don’t know what happened, why this case was closed without being taken to court. They are trying to play smart but they are not clever. The things they are doing today out of desperation will catch up with them tomorrow.

They shouldn’t abuse their offices to keep themselves in power. It will backfire, it won’t work and in the end it will prove too costly for them. The same discriminatory laws they are today enacting with the intention of using them to harass their opponents will tomorrow be used on them. The same bad practices they are introducing in the nation out of political desperation will tomorrow be used on them. The bells tolling on their political opponents today will tomorrow toll on them. In saying this, we are not in any way advocating vengeance. We can’t build a united nation on the basis of revenge; we can’t move our country forward on feelings of hatred and revenge. In a word, what we are simply trying to say is that although evil may be on the rampage today temporarily, the good must win and will win the laurels in the end.

Labels: CORRUPTION, EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:24 AM