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Outcry for DPP to go well-founded - Chongwe

Outcry for DPP to go well-founded - Chongwe
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 27 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

THE outcry from the Zambian people for DPP Chalwe Mchenga to go is well-founded following the conviction of Anuj Kumar Rathi, says Dr Rodger Chongwe. And Dr Chongwe said it was stupid for those in government, like finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to criticise PF leader Michael Sata for saying he would restore the Barotseland Agreement when they had failed to do so themselves.

Commenting on the Lusaka High Court’s decision to uphold the four-year jail term slapped on Seymon Holdings proprietor Rathi by the Lusaka magistrates’ court in 2009 for corruption, Dr Chongwe said Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mchenga wanted to save Rathi because he was in good standing with the MMD government.

“The DPP said he did not support the conviction. And the outcry by the people of Zambia, even by the Law Association of Zambia against the continuation of Mr Mchenga occupying his position as DPP is well founded,” Dr Chongwe said.

“And it’s there for all to see that Mr Mchenga has ceased to apply his personal judgement as the public prosecutor. He is instead getting his instructions from people who are unqualified lawyers, members of the executive of Mr Rupiah Banda.”

Dr Chongwe said such a situation should not be allowed to continue.

“That is why we are calling upon the people of Zambia that the MMD has been in power for far too long, and the time is ripe for them to leave office, together with those professionals who take orders from them, because we don’t want them to be used by the new government in doing the same thing that the current government is doing,” he said.

Dr Chongwe said Mchenga’s behaviour on Rathi was not different to how he behaved on former president Frederick Chiluba and his wife Regina.

He said Mchenga even went against the decision by the person they appointed to prosecute the case, by withdrawing an appeal on Chiluba’s acquittal from the High Court.

“And you remember in the case of Chiluba’s wife, when it came before the appeal the state said it won’t support the conviction and yet they prosecuted that woman and the court convicted her,” Dr Chongwe said.

“But because she is Mrs Chiluba they didn’t want to proceed against her and in this case obviously because it’s Mr Rathi who is in good standing with the government.”

He said at the Ministry of Justice for instance; all the positions from the minister to the Attorney General were dysfunctional.
“We need a new government to rebuild the institutions of government in this country,” Dr Chongwe said.

And commenting on Dr Situmbeko’s remarks that Sata was lying to the people of Western Province for promising that he would restore the Barotseland Agreement, Dr Chongwe said instead of condemning Sata, Dr Musokotwane and his colleagues in government should do something about it since they held the instruments of power and had the majority in Parliament.

“But to say someone who is in opposition if he came into power he wont’ do it, ‘he is telling lies’, I think that is stupid type of politics. It is illogical because if the opposition is promising the people of the Western Province that they are going to restore the Barotseland Agreement then the government if they want can actually restore it tomorrow,” he said.

Dr Chongwe said the people of Western Province felt cheated, saying when they requested the MMD government to look at the Agreement, they were shown bullets.
Dr Chongwe said he agreed with former Ngambela Mututwa Mututwa, that Sata was now the messenger for the Barotse Agreement.

“MMD has only itself to blame because they would have done what the people of Barotse land want. They want devolution of power so that their province has some political power to better the life of the people at the local level,” said Dr Chongwe.

On Monday, the Lusaka High Court upheld Rathi’s four-year jail term slapped on him by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court two years ago.

When sentencing Rathi on November 3, 2009, magistrate Charles Kafunda, who is now High Court deputy director for court operations, said it was clear that Funjika manipulated the award of a tender to Seymon Holdings and his two children were given 7,500 pounds each which was also to his benefit.

He said the prosecution proved that Rathi gave the 15,000 pounds to Funjika who was a public officer so that he could manipulate the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA), which was a public institution.

Magistrate Kafunda also ordered that the 342,000 pounds, which Rathi gained from the corruption act be forfeited to the state.

When delivering the appeal judgment, judge Nigel Mutuna sitting with judge Patrick Matibini ordered that Rathi serves the remainder of his four year sentence after they dismissed his 17 grounds of appeal saying they lacked merit and legal backing.

The High Court also revoked Rathi’s bail but said he had the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Rathi has already served 12 months of his sentence.
In December last year, Rathi won a bid to dine with President Rupiah Banda after he pledged K260 million to the MMD but the party president, who had earlier accepted the bid, rescinded his decision following public outcry.

And during the same appeal in January this year, the state submitted that there was no overwhelming circumstantial evidence to prove beyond doubt that Rathi was guilty of corruption as charged.

In their final submissions the state said the evidence before court did not show what criminal action Rathi did to prove an omission on his part that led to the crime.

Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, DPP, ROGER CHONGWE

posted by MrK @ 4:40 PM