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Judiciary will cleanse itself only when Sakala steps down - Fr Luonde

Judiciary will cleanse itself only when Sakala steps down - Fr Luonde
By Darious Kapembwa, Ernest Chanda and Allan Mulenga
Thu 19 Jan. 2012, 13:59 CAT

THE Judiciary will cleanse itself only when Chief Justice Ernest Sakala steps down, says Father Richard Luonde.

Backing calls for Justice Sakala to step down, Fr Luonde, an Anglican priest based in Kitwe, said it was morally wrong for Justice Sakala to wait to be fired when he himself knew that he was not supposed to continue in that position based on his past conduct.

"Public officers are suppose to exhibit maximum professionalism even under very difficult circumstances," Fr Luonde.

"Justice Sakala refused to shake President Sata's hand when the president was in opposition, what was he telling us about his Judiciary? Zambian people will not support Justice Sakala even if he began to show that he was correcting his image and that of the Judiciary because his is a very sensitive institution that should be protected from any form of public ridicule. But he failed to do that, so he should go. Sakala must go," said Fr Luonde.

He said justice was not just a public interest matter but also a moral issue that anyone in justice Sakala's position with a conscience could have done by now.

He said Justice Sakala was clearly not himself after the last elections.

"For those of us that have done sociology and psychology, you can easily tell that the man is not himself whenever he appeared in public at state functions, so why clinging on to the position if your stay threatens the integrity of such an important institution?" he asked.

And senior chief Bright Nalubamba of the Ila people in Namwala district says the government should stop employing judges on contract.

Adding his voice to calls for serious reforms in the Judiciary, Nalubamba said Justice Sakala and all judges on contract should step down to leave room for reforms.

Nalubamba observed that it was because of serving on contracts that leaders in the Judiciary became vulnerable to government control.

He said if the same people were in office during the reforms, they would frustrate the process.

"They should not be employed on contract to ensure they're independent. Then we can have a fair and good judiciary so that this corruption we see around can be avoided," Nalubamba said.

"The fact that these people are on contract they can also try to appease the leadership, like we saw in the just ended administration, you find all the judgments are just biased. People could not even go to the higher courts for intervention; they went outside court for intervention"

He said the Law Association of Zambia was right in joining the call for judicial reforms, which the public had been crying for.

Nalubamba said it was such reforms that would result in an independent Judiciary that would eventually regain public confidence.

And Nalubamba said the government should seriously consider the call from LAZ and support it.

He said the onus was on the government to start the judicial reform process by doing its part.

"That should be the message to the people of Zambia from the government side; they should support LAZ's motion. If they do that they will deliver the message to the people that they are for fair justice delivery in this country. I expect them to respond as a matter of agency," said Nalubamba.

"In fact, I want to believe that the current administration suffered at the hands of a Judiciary which was not so independent, a Judiciary which was directed by the administration on what to do. And if they can't take this as an opportunity for them to clear this notion so that we shall have a dependable justice delivery, then I'll be very disappointed."

And Council of Churches in Zambia general secretary Reverend Suzanne Matale says President Michael Sata must take the call for judicial reforms seriously.

Rev Matale, in an interview, said there was public outcry about the operations of the Judiciary.

"The call for reforms is long overdue and we hope and trust that this can be taken very seriously and that the reforms could start now, so that in the few months time we can have the Judiciary that we can be proud of. At the moment we are not very happy with the way things are in that regard, ¨ she said.

Rev Matale said the implementation of the judicial reforms would bring efficiency in the judicial system.

¨The President has talked about many people who are in prison that shouldn't be there. They are only there because of system has not given them a fair trial and we all know that justice delayed is justice denied and also the cases just take too long to be disposed off. The example is the one of former late president Frederick Chiluba which took almost eight years, ¨ she said.

Rev Matale said the current judicial system had made most corruption cases in the courts of law to delay.

¨You know cases seem to go stale and to go cold because it takes too long through our current judiciary system to dispose off cases. Not even the high profile, but the worst thing is the low profile people who have nobody to talk for them and then they are not represented," said Rev. Matale.

And PF chairperson for mobilisation Charles Banda said a lot of judgments passed in the previous regime were politically engineered.

"It is correct that we must go back and look at several other judgments that were politically motivated because it is an open secret that a lot of judgments especially the political cases were of a political nature. We need to study some of those judgments, so that the owners of those judgments should suffer the consequences," he said.

Banda said misconduct of some judges and magistrates had compromised the operation of the Judiciary.

Banda said the judicial reforms once implemented would bring confidence to the public over the operation of the judiciary.

"We are not saying that let's take vengeance. Vengeance is for the Lord, but what we are saying is that let's correct this, so that people can be able to enjoy the existence of that institution called the Judiciary. We should not have the situation whereby you even know that when I go to court, I will lose because I am in the opposition. That is not correct," said Banda.

Labels: BRIGHT NALUBAMBA, CORRUPTION, ERNEST SAKALA, JUDICIARY, RICHARD LUONDE, SUZANNE MATALE

posted by MrK @ 10:40 AM