Maravi

Rupiah shouldn’t be given a second term - Chitala

Rupiah shouldn’t be given a second term - Chitala
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 23 June 2011, 08:01 CAT

RUPIAH Banda should not be given a second term of office because the abuse of the judiciary will intensify, says Dr Mbita Chitala.

Commenting on the angry reaction from State House to former Task Force on Corruption chairperson Maxwell Nkole’s observation that senior chief Puta’s assertion that President Banda promised to terminate Chiengi member of parliament Katele Kalumba’s corruption cases confirmed there was political interference in the dispensation of justice, Dr Chitala, who is Zambia’s former ambassador to Libya, said Nkole’s observation was a very serious indictment on how the judiciary had been abused in the country.

He said Nkole was a long-serving public servant who knew what he was talking about.

Dr Chitala warned against continuing with President Banda after this year’s general elections.

“And the country should take cognizance of the comments of this honourable person who selflessly served our country with excellence; and that the judiciary in this matter has been compromised and continues to be compromised by the executive. For as long as this continues, there can never be justice in our country or fair play in any way,” Dr Chitala said.

“It will even be worse if Mr Banda is allowed to continue for a second term. This alone shows that there must be change. We need to place in government a new team of citizens who will truly provide for rule of law, justice and fair play in judicial matters.”

Dr Chitala said anyone who tried to compromise the judiciary was committing a felony for which they should be prosecuted.

He said the events from Chiengi should be investigated and truth be known so that the nation could “clean up this abuse which has now become a culture in our country”.

On the statement by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere that Nkole was a bitter and frustrated man who tends to blame his failure to run the disbanded Task Force on others, Dr Chitala defended Nkole saying the statement was unfair and ungrateful to the man who did everything to serve his country.

He said Nkole had a wonderful job with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kigali, Rwanda but chose to stop in order to help Zambia prosecute plunder cases.

“He made sacrifices and the job was very dangerous because he was prosecuting very high people who had their own power. And the trouble with the current regime is that they don’t know how to say thank you. They are very happy to use you but they are born ingraciate. They never know how to say thank you,” Dr Chitala said.

“In the end, it’s them who frustrated him and were able to ensure that the cases he was prosecuting have all been abandoned and back to corruption. So it is them who must be condemned. He was a patriot.”

On Jere’s statement that the President does not appeal acquittal cases to higher courts because the Republican Constitution empowered the Director of Public Prosecutions based on his legal opinion, contrary to the pronouncement President Banda made during a public meeting that he stopped the acquittal into late Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal, Dr Chitala responded:

“Well you should read between the lines what that means if a head of state comments on things like that. It means he has been involved. It’s an admission of involvement and it’s abuse of the process.”

The MMD in Chiengi has resolved not to receive applications from those wishing to stand as MPs until Kalumba is “freed from his corruption cases”.

The party structures in the area have also resolved not to conduct interviews for those wishing to stand as councillors.

The MMD in Chiengi wondered why Kalumba had not been set free as promised by President Banda, who they said had freed the likes of late Chiluba, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and education minister Dora Siliya from their court cases.

Commenting on the refusal by the MMD in Chiengi to adopt parliamentary and local government aspirants until President Banda fulfilled his promise he made to them to free area Kalumba, Nkole wondered why the President and those in government had failed to respond to the damning allegations against them.

But reacting to Nkole's statement, Jere described as baseless assertions by Nkole that President Banda interfered with the delivery of justice.

Labels: MAXWELL NKOLE, MBITA CHITALA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:34 PM