Rupiah is dangerously ignorant – Kabimba
Rupiah is dangerously ignorant – KabimbaBy George Chellah
Fri 06 Aug. 2010, 04:30 CAT
PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba yesterday said President Rupiah Banda is dangerously ignorant of his powers as Head of State.
Commenting on President Banda’s orders to the police in Ndola to release nine suspected PF supporters who allegedly blocked Vice-President George Kunda’s motorcade, Kabimba described the directive as shameful.
“Rupiah is exposing his ignorance. He is dangerously ignorant of his powers as President. It does not mean that when you are occupying the office as President you can do everything and you have powers to do anything,” Kabimba said.
“That is only the attitude of a dictator or a leader of a military junta. Under a civil and democratic government, all offices are governed by the Constitution and individuals occupying those offices must abide by that fundamental law of the land. This was certainly not the case in Chifubu.”
Kabimba said President Banda’s directive was not only unconstitutional but also an usurpation of the power of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
“It is unconstitutional because the President under the Constitution can only pardon a person who has been convicted and not a person who is just suspected of having committed an offence,” Kabimba said.
“It is usurpation of the DPP’s powers because only the DPP under the Constitution is vested with power to grant a fiat for the prosecution of a suspect for an offence committed or the release of such a suspect where there is no evidence to warrant any prosecution.”
Kabimba said it was clear that President Banda was using the release of the suspected PF cadres as a political tramp card to woo voters in the Chifubu parliamentary by-election.
“The question therefore is how many times has the President without the knowledge of the general public or in private directed the police either to arrest his political opponents or release MMD cadres from police custody?” Kabimba asked.
“I do not believe that the directive by the President in Chifubu is an isolated incident. This disregard and contempt by the President of the Constitution, which is the law of our land is not only dangerous but also shameful for a democratic country like Zambia under a government that preaches the separation of powers of the three arms of government namely executive, legislature and judiciary.
“One would, therefore, not be wrong, using the Chifubu experience, to suspect that the President has a tendency on behalf of the executive to interfere in the other arms of government and hence eroding the principles of the separation of powers as guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Kabimba appealed to the people around President Banda to adequately advise him to avoid such embarrassments.
“My plea to those around the President, including the Vice-President who is a lawyer, is that they must help the President in these matters and save the man from shame, which arises from such pronouncements,” said Kabimba.
“They are not doing him a favour by not advising him correctly and leaving him so exposed not only to the Zambians but even to the international community, that the man doesn’t understand how far his powers go as President under the Constitution, which he took oath to uphold without fear or favour in his execution of duty as President.”
Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA
posted by MrK @ 8:16 PM
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