Judiciary is being player, referee - Chikwanda

Judiciary is being player, referee - Chikwanda
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tue 12 June 2012, 13:24 CAT

FINANCE minister Alexander Chikwanda has regretted that a lot of lies have been peddled concerning the Zambian Airways debt. And Chikwanda says the Judiciary has advantage in an undesirable war of attrition because they have an enviable role of being player and referee.

Meanwhile, Chikwanda questioned the ability of "some regionally-strong political parties to organise nation-wide protest in pursuit of their cause".

Chikwanda, who by yesterday was acting Republican President in the absence of President Michael Sata, said it was inconceivable for the Executive to undermine the Judiciary

"It is in public interest that the minister of finance as shareholder directed Development Bank of Zambia to ask their lawyers to pend the action before the court and not to withdraw but to seek the Attorney General's opinion because the matter before the Court had acquired overtones which were contentious," Chikwanda said.

"It is government's practice to seek guidance of the Attorney General's opinion on matters where there is no certainty. This is not optional but mandatory.

"The government owns about 90 per cent of the DBZ with EximBank of India and Development Bank of Southern Africa returning the 10 per cent equity.

Chikwanda said it was "absolutely inconceivable" that President Sata could wittingly or inadvertently do anything that undermined any component of government.

Chikwanda said the strained relationship between the Executive and the Judiciary was regrettable as the two form the same government.

"As is public knowledge, the Judiciary has different views and the Executive has no alternative except to seek recourse to the same Judiciary by ways of appeal," Chikwanda told journalists yesterday.

"We know the Judiciary has advantage in this undesirable war of attrition because they have the enviable role of being a player and referee. Government will not take any precipitate measures in this matter and we appeal to both the general public and civil society to pend their anger and frustration."

Chikwanda said the government even with the demarcations of responsibilities of the three wings, namely the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature, was essentially one entity.

"The people of Zambia are now being dared to sit in moral judgment of the Executive and the Judiciary because what is happening is far beyond legality," he said.

"It is a moral issue for no government can stand with sustainability without distinct moral benchmarks. This is at the core of the very essence of any government premised on democracy and the rule of law."

On April 30 this year, President Sata suspended Supreme Court judge Philip Musonda and High Court judges Charles Kajimanga and Nigel Mutuna over their alleged professional misconduct and has since appointed a tribunal to investigate them.

President Sata suspended the three judges over their conduct in a civil case involving the Development Bank of Zambia as complainant, and The Post Newspapers Limited, Mutembo Nchito and JNC Holdings Limited as defendants.

The President subsequently appointed the tribunal led by Malawi High Court judge Justice Lovemore Chikopa to probe the three judges.

However on May 16, Lusaka High Court judge Fulgence Chisanga stayed proceedings of a tribunal appointed by President Sata to investigate the alleged misconduct of the three judges on grounds that it was illegal and premature.

"At inception of his administration, President Sata as a mark of respect to the Judiciary invited Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to address Cabinet," he revealed.

"In the words of justice Sakala, that was the only time he had been accorded that honour and privilege in his long tenure at the helm of the Judiciary. President Sata took advantage of the occasion to admonish his ministers to stay away from judicial matters. His Excellency the President is the head of government and has acted most diligently and dutifully to safeguard the integrity and respectability of all arms of government."

And Chikwanda said the Executive appealed against the decision of judge Chisanga because it believed in the separation of power.

"The Executive has no alternative; we will abide by their decision the Supreme Court is the last court of appeal and Zambia can only uphold its democratic arrangements if all arms of government work as part of the entity called government," he said.

"The government has no intention for confrontation. As your Minister of Finance, I cannot withhold payments or disbursements to the Judiciary; that's not right. The Judiciary has to function and function effectively and that is why in this ministry we do everything possible to try and make sure that the Judiciary is equipped to do what they are supposed to do."

"We can't have confrontation between the Executive and the Judiciary nor can we have confrontation between the Executive and Legislature. The democratic norms and imperatives entail us to accept the decisions of other arms of government but it must be realised that the government is literally one. That is why the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary all come here to get our requirements because the division of responsibilities is just for convenience."

Meanwhile, Chikwanda laughed off the suggestion that some political parties, in apparent reference to UPND, would hold nationwide demonstrations to the push for their agenda over the calls for judicial reforms.

He also blamed the UPND for the confrontation last week in which Lusaka Police dispersed a planned demonstration to Supreme Court by UPND cadres.

"The law requires that you seek police indulgence if you want to mount a demonstration. Government is committed to defending the rights and freedoms of the people; we are not looking for eulogies. The PF has a mandate to rule Zambia but to do so within the confines of the law. Let them demonstrate but let them do so within the confines of the law. And some people have illusions that they are going to demonstrate all over the country...where will they get people to join them in Chipata, Mansa or Kasama or even Solwezi, maybe even Mongu?" asked Chikwanda.

"Maybe not even in Choma because people would rather get on with productive functions than being used as cannon fodders soldiers forced to deliberately fight with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties in an effort to achieve a strategic goal by politicians with an agenda which is not in accord with the wishes of the people. But do not resort to confrontations which stall the development of our country. None of us here, if we are X tribe, is without relations in Y tribe. We have now become very fused; we are one. There are people who have different ideas, but the mainstream Zambians want to be one; they want to be a happy society. We want to be a very well embracing, accommodating and tolerant society."