Maravi

Rupiah’s legacy is worrying – Col. Panji

Rupiah’s legacy is worrying – Col. Panji
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tue 14 Sep. 2010, 04:01 CAT

President Rupiah Banda’s closeness with former president Frederick Chiluba has made him fail to handle his cases to the best of his knowledge, Colonel Panji Kaunda has said.

And Col Panji said Vice-President George Kunda owes Zambians an explanation over the London High Court judgment that has not been registered in Zambia. In an interview, Col Panji – who is son of Zambia’s first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda - said President Banda had made a big mistake by putting Chiluba too close to him.

“I think the mistake that President Banda has made is that he puts Mr
Chiluba too close to him, as we say in our local language ‘khoswe
akakhala pamkhate sapheka’ because of the closeness that he has with
him he has failed to handle his cases to the best of his
knowledge,” he said.

“If I were him or somebody that I would advise, I would have advised him to say ‘look this man has a case to answer, he is not guilty until proven otherwise but in the meantime put him at arms length. When the case is over, whether he is either guilty or not guilty then we can deal with him as a former president.
“As it is now, they are moving together. Honourable Kunda said Chiluba is their consultant and advisor, now how do you put your advisor into prison? How do you appeal in a case of a person who is supposed to be your advisor? So the whole case from the word go was
mishandled. You could see pictures coming out in The Post where Mr Chiluba is attending state functions next to the Chief Justice, that’s wrong.”

Col Panji said the Chief Justice advises the government on legal matters and that it could be difficult for him to judge somebody who is close to
him.

He said President Banda’s legacy was worrying because corruption was everywhere.

“We worry about his legacy on what will happen in the next course because corruption is everywhere. Even in America (corruption) is there but it’s what you do after the case that matters. In America, former president Bush’s close friends were found to be corrupt and they went to jail. But in our case it is different,” Col Panji said.

He said ministers should resign whenever they were accused of something to allow investigating agencies to investigate their cases freely.

And Col Panji said Vice-President Kunda was an eminent lawyer who should have known whether or not the Chiluba case could be registered in the Zambian courts when he was prosecuting it in London.

“I think late president Mwanawasa and Kunda before taking the case to London they should have known that this case cannot be enforced and later on registered in the courts in Zambia. So for them to have taken this case to London they knew they were within our laws,” Col. Panji said.
“They were two eminent lawyers who were guiding Cabinet ministers because I don’t think this case was for only Mwanawasa and Kunda.

“What has changed now that he cannot appeal on behalf of Zambians because Zambians are the ones demanding that these things should go to court? He was either misleading Mwanawasa or he is misleading President Banda. They must tell us why they are refusing to appeal. If they want to forgive Mr Chiluba as such they must allow the court process to take its course up to the Supreme Court, but by stopping the appeal they are denying us the advantage to know whether Mr Chiluba was guilty or not because the full process of the law can not be fulfilled.”

Labels: CORRUPTION, GEORGE KUNDA, PANJI KAUNDA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:27 AM