‘Chiluba’s statement on Task Force cases unfortunate’

‘Chiluba’s statement on Task Force cases unfortunate’
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 04 June 2010, 04:01 CAT

LAW Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu yesterday described as unfortunate Frederick Chiluba’s statement that he does not respect outcomes of court cases handled by the Task Force.

Commenting on Chiluba’s statement that he had no respect for the outcome of court cases handled by the Task Force on Corruption because they were heavily politicised, Lungu said the statement from Chiluba was very unfortunate especially that it came from a former president.

“It is very unfortunate because of the position that he holds in society, and the influence of his statement. The influence that his statements would have on society, that is why it is unfortunate,” he said.

Lungu said Chiluba was entitled to his own opinion but LAZ would stand by its stated position not to cause disrespect to the judiciary.

He said the conviction of Kalumba was legal and not political.

“People should not use their opinions to cast aspersions on the Judiciary. We have always as an association advocated for the fact that we should respect the court process, and the court process starts from the time a matter goes to court,” Lungu said. “Every right meaning citizen of this country should respect court decisions, whether or not they agree with them.”

On Chiluba’s statement that the judicial process should not be tainted with illegalities and political interference, Lungu said it was always unfortunate when a person of Chiluba’s stature made such kind of comments.

“Our view is that whether or not we agree with the judgments that came out of the court, we should always show respect to the decisions of the courts. And as I said earlier, this is why we have got an appeal process,” he said.

Asked how possible it was for Chiluba to respect the judiciary and not the judgments that were passed by the courts, Lungu said he did not understand the contradiction.

Chiluba was quoted in last Wednesday’s edition of the state-owned Times of Zambia saying he had no respect for the outcomes of court cases that were handled by the Task Force because they were heavily politicised.

Speaking through his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, Chiluba said apart from the cases being politically instigated, they were also targeted at certain individuals.