Changing our Judiciary's negative image
By The Post
Sun 01 Jan. 2012, 14:00 CAT
TRULY, the negative image of the Judiciary needs to change. And it is good that Chief Justice Ernest Sakala has recognised the fact that the Judiciary's image is negative. Admission of a problem is the first step in trying to find a solution. With this admission by Chief Justice Sakala, we are confident that our Judiciary will soon get on the path to self-correction.
When problems are admitted publicly, it becomes easier to solve them. Of course, our enemies will always try to take advantage of those problems we have publicly admitted or acknowledged.
But they will not be able to get much out of it because we will be able to clear those problems away. It is therefore necessary to take a forthright attitude towards our own problems.
It is true that the image of our Judiciary is negative and there's need to change it. But this change of image will not come from the new judges. The new judges are not replacing the old crop of judges. Justice Sakala still remains the Chief Justice.
And many other judges who have tainted the Judiciary's image are still there as judges. This is a Judiciary that even promotes judges who have tainted the institution's image. How is the negative image of the Judiciary going to be changed by the appointment of Chalwe Mchenga, a man who disgraced the previous high judicial position he held? Mchenga, as Director of Public Prosecutions, became part of a syndicate that was protecting wrongdoers, corrupt elements from going to jail.
Mchenga, in connivance with George Kunda, attempted to free Kashiwa Bulaya from legitimate prosecution claiming there was no adequate evidence to secure his conviction.
Following public pressure, Levy Mwanawasa ordered that Bulaya be prosecuted and indeed, he was accordingly convicted. Even his appeal failed. We saw, not very long ago, how Mchenga connived with Rupiah Banda to let Frederick Chiluba go scot-free.
There was demand by the Law Association of Zambia and many other civil society organisations for Mchenga to resign. He didn't because he had no shame. He seems to be a hardcore element in that type of behaviour.
Today Mchenga is a High Court judge in a Judiciary whose image is negative. And Justice Sakala was one of the people who supported Mchenga's appointment as High Court judge. The Law Association of Zambia opposed the appointment of this disgraced man as a High Court judge.
Justice Sakala himself has disgraced the Judiciary in his conduct that showed serious political bias, patronage or partisanship. We have not forgotten how Justice Sakala refused to shake hands with Michael Sata in church. Why did Justice Sakala behave that way? It is simply because it was politically convenient for him to do so.
But today, the same Justice Sakala is all over trying to be in good books with Michael, the man he had so much contempt for. What change of image can Justice Sakala bring to our Judiciary?
Clearly, any attempt to change the image of our Judiciary that leaves this current leadership intact in the hands of Justice Sakala will not achieve much. The image of the Judiciary sunk to its lowest under the leadership of Justice Sakala.
There is no justification whatsoever for Justice Sakala to continue serving as Chief Justice on a contract of a Judiciary he has clearly failed to properly lead. The changes required to restore the image of the Judiciary will not come from Justice Sakala and cannot be led by him. The judges and magistrates who have disgraced the Judiciary are very much under the protection of Justice Sakala.
Under Justice Sakala, Jones Chinyama who highly questionably acquitted Chiluba under a scheme that Rupiah has claimed credit for has been promoted to the Industrial Relations Court. This raises many questions about Justice Sakala's view or role in what was going on, in Chiluba's highly-questionable acquittal.
Was Justice Sakala part of the Rupiah scheme to free Chiluba? Was Justice Sakala part of the Mchenga move to withdraw the appeal against Chiluba's acquittal?
Judge Evans Hamaundu is still there after delivering a clearly faulty judgment over the registration of the London High Court judgment against Chiluba. This was also not appealed by Attorney General Abyudi Shonga.
Why? Clearly, there was a scheme in which many people with judicial functions participated to free Chiluba from all corruption cases, criminal or civil. Where was Justice Sakala in all this? What leadership did Justice Sakala provide in dealing with these issues?
The negative image of our Judiciary can be partly attributed to Justice Sakala's inability to adequately defend and advance the independence of our Judiciary. And the independence of our Judiciary is central to the administration of fair and equal justice in our country.
Justice Sakala failed to provide adequate leadership to guarantee or at least promote the independence of our Judiciary, in the day-to-day administration of justice. We started to increasingly see a tendency in our Judiciary to settle cases in a manner that was not expected to be in any real sense independent.
Justice started to appear like it was a prerogative of those in power which they carried out through our judges and magistrates. Our judges and magistrates, under the leadership of Justice Sakala, started to appear like they were agents of those in power.
Those of us who have to pronounce judgments on persons and situations should view the exercise of their authority as a service of the truth for the common good as well as for the wellbeing of the individual.
Zambians want a truly independent Judiciary. And it is not Justice Sakala who is going to give us a truly independent Judiciary because he has shown great inability to do so. It is the Zambian people collectively who will give themselves a truly independent Judiciary.
The Zambian people want a Judiciary where all are equal regardless of their social or political status. We are just coming from a period when our Judiciary did everything possible to fulfil the wishes of Rupiah. If Rupiah's wish was for Chiluba to be set free, our Judiciary set him free.
If Rupiah's wish was for Chiluba to retain his loot, our Judiciary made sure this was so. This is what, among other things, has led to this negative image of our Judiciary today. This is what needs to be corrected for our Judiciary to have a positive image in the eyes of our people.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CORRUPTION, JUDICIARY
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Wooooo, Mutembo is DPP
By The Post
Wed 21 Dec. 2011, 13:58 CAT
THERE is need for some decency, for some honesty in our politics. A just society can only exist when there is decency, fairness and honesty in our politics.
Politics should be honest and responsible because it is an effective way of serving others and working for the integral development of one's country. And politics should be practiced within the limits of the moral order. Those in leadership should use their leadership privileges to further the common good.
Authority is exercised legitimately if it is committed to the common good of society. Let people's representatives fight against injustice; let them devote themselves to the welfare of all. Political positions must have, as their aim, the achievement of the common good. And the best way to fulfil one's obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good because this is the reason for the existence of political, social and economic institutions.
And as we have also consistently advised, the exercise of political power, of indeed any power, must be the constant practice of self-limitation and modesty.
It was sad listening to the parliamentary debate over the ratification of Mutembo Nchito as nominee for the office of Director of Public Prosecutions.
Listening to George Kunda confirmed our belief in the view that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It made us wonder what some of our representatives in that House actually believe in. The other week, George was on the floor of the House showering us with praises for being a very good newspaper. We were right in not being carried away by George's praise, flattery because he didn't mean it.
We say this because yesterday, this same George was on the floor of this same House insinuating that if Mutembo were ratified for the office of Director of Public Prosecutions, him and us would run things in a way that would be detrimental to Michael Sata's government and the nation in general. How possible is it for a newspaper that the other week George praised as being a very good newspaper to do that, to behave in such an irresponsible and bad way?
We were not surprised that George could not hold his hatred for Mutembo and stood up to continue his scandalisation of Mutembo that he started when he was in government.
George has never hesitated to tell lies about Mutembo and about us. And he was at it again yesterday, trying to spread his hatred for Mutembo and The Post to other members of parliament. But he failed miserably and he should be very ashamed of himself. But George has no shame.
We say this because if George had shame, he wouldn't have been the one to say the things he insinuated about Mutembo and us yesterday. We have not forgotten how George used to accuse Mutembo and us of racketeering and all sorts of things on the floor of that House when he was vice-president. George has never hesitated to abuse his position of power in the House to scandalise ordinary citizens who have no chance of defending themselves on that same floor.
When we rejected his praises, we might have been seen to be ungrateful or arrogant. But we knew that George was a cheap politician, a liar and a very hateful person. George will never forgive Mutembo for exposing his criminal behaviour in collusion with his spineless Director of Public Prosecutions Chalwe Mchenga to extend an unjustified nolle prosequi to their friend Kashiwa Bulaya. We also know that George has been working with his spineless friend Mchenga to ensure that Mutembo is not ratified as a nominee for the position of Director of Public Prosecutions.
Just before he was ratified as a High Court judge, Mchenga tried very hard to scandalise Mutembo and claim there was still need to investigate him further in South Africa when he knew very well that there was nothing wrong he had done to justify being investigated. Both George and Mchenga know very well that their investigations failed to yield anything criminal that they could hang around Mutembo or any of us. And they were told so by the police, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Anti Corruption Commission.
But being liars, they never had the moral courage to tell the Zambian people that they found nothing criminal in their investigations. And even yesterday, George was still trying to peddle the same lie he used to instruct Francis Kabonde to peddle against us. We can state it with absolute honesty that Kabonde told us that they had found nothing in their investigations against us and we shouldn't waste our time on the matter.
And this was the same thing George, Mchenga and their boss Rupiah Banda, were told. But they have no sense of honesty and they wanted to deceive the whole Parliament to deny the nation the services of a patriot who has demonstrated rare courage, honesty, competence and resoluteness in serving the course of justice. Again, they were shamed. The House voted overwhelmingly in favour of ratifying Mutembo's appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions.
And we can only say woooooo to them! Mwailasha! Mwaikata panshi! Mwashala nobufi bwenu!
George was not even ashamed to use newspaper propaganda that was being disseminated by a criminal, a corrupt element, Richard Sakala. This was a man who was sent to jail for corruption. And this is the man George wants to portray as representing absolute public opinion. As for others, they will simply choke with envy, with frustration over Mutembo's ratification in the same way they are choking with Michael's election victory which they never believed would happen without them.
We mean some tribalists in UPND. As for the corrupt elements, those who have committed crimes, their days are numbered because now the country has very good people at the helm of the Police, Anti Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
With this formidable team that Michael has assembled, those who have committed crimes, those who have plundered the resources of our people have every reason not to sleep. And this is why they were panicking over Mutembo's appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions. They know his capacity, they know his record of almost close to 100 per cent convictions. No amount of propaganda could distract him from his prosecution duties. The days of having a spineless Director of Public Prosecutions are over.
We have no doubt that Mutembo will discharge his duties with sufficient honour, fairness, justice and integrity. All our people deserve fairness and justice regardless of the crimes they are suspected to have committed. This country doesn't deserve spineless Directors of Public Prosecutions like Mchenga, who was for hire by those in power. And only in Zambia can such a person be given the high office of High Court judge.
But we know Mchenga's backers in our judiciary - and they are equally as bad as him when it comes to dancing to the tune of those in power. It should not matter where one stands politically when it comes to criminal prosecution. We don't ever want to see the impunity that William Banda and other MMD cadres got away with when their party was in power. The people of Zambia want an independent, fair and honest Director of Public Prosecutions.
And Mutembo fits well in that. We can speak with confidence about this because we know the man very well. If we commit a crime, we have no doubt that Mutembo will get us prosecuted like any other crime suspect. This is the way things should be. The Director of Public Prosecutions should owe no one protection who has committed a crime.
His duty is to protect the public from criminals, whoever they may be and whatever position they may occupy in society. This is the character of the man who prosecuted Frederick Chiluba. This is the character of the man who is hated by defenders of criminals like George.
We have no doubt that those 86 members of parliament who voted for Mutembo's ratification as Director of Public Prosecutions will never regret it because they have discharged a public duty in the most honest and sincere manner. As Robert Kennedy once observed, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
George was part and defender of the most corrupt and intolerant regime this country has ever seen, a regime where ministers steal billions of kwacha and bury them under the earth when their people have no food, have no medicines; when our children have no access to a desk and so on and so forth.
That is the regime George belonged to and defended. What integrity can George talk about? George is nothing but a shameless liar. But yesterday his lies couldn't be bought by the majority of our members of parliament, and they defied his appeal for Mutembo not to be ratified.
Now George will choke with envy, hatred and probably anger. Mutembo is our Republic's Director of Public Prosecutions without George's support or approval. We can only repeat to George: wooooooo!
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, DPP, MUTEMBO NCHITO
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Mchenga lacks character for a judge - Chibuluma
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Fri 02 Dec. 2011, 13:40 CAT
CHALWE Mchenga lacks character to make an impartial judge whom society can rely upon, says Sacord information officer Obby Chibuluma. Early this week, Parliament ratified the appointment of Mchenga, who until his recent appointment served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), High Court judge.
The other newly-appointed High Court judges include Solicitor General Mubanga Kondolo, former Solicitor General and permanent secretary Dominic Sichinga and lawyer Nichola Sharpe-Phiri.
The National Assembly heard that the appointment of the four judges was made pursuant to Section 95(1) Cap 1 of the Laws of Zambia.
Commenting on the development, Chibuluma said the Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Dispute ( Sacord) held a view that Mchenga would not be an impartial judge going by his track record as DPP.
"Yes he qualifies to be a judge but there are a lot of unanswered questions around personal characters," Chibuluma said.
"His standing is not as good as the Parliament committee tried to put it and justify for the House to ratify his appointment. But we still feel whatever he did regarding the Frederick Chiluba case equally put his standing into question and that makes it even difficult for us to think he will be an impartial judge who is going to make judgments based on merit."
Mchenga was DPP in August 2009 when former president Chiluba was questionably acquitted of corruption and theft by Lusaka magistrate Jones Chinyama.
Mchenga resisted pressure from the civil society, opposition political parties and other concerned citizens to appeal against the Chinyama judgment in view of overwhelming evidence of convicting the late Chiluba of grand corruption.
Mchenga was also DPP when he granted former health permanent secretary Kashiwa Bulaya a nolle prosequi from his corruption charges during late president Levy Mwanawasa's regime.
Chibuluma said it would be difficult for society to draw confidence in Mchenga's performance as his track record showed that, as DDP, he served to protect the interest of the appointing authority at the expense of society.
"We believe there are several other lawyers that can play that role and the government should have found another way of redeploying him rather than taking up a position which is even more strategic and requires sober minded people," said Chibuluma.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, OBBY CHIBULUMA
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Parliament ratifies Mchenga's appointment as judge
By Maluba Jere
Wed 30 Nov. 2011, 13:59 CAT
PARLIAMENT yesterday ratified the appointment of four High Court judges. The four are Director of Public Prosecutions Chalwe Mchenga, Solicitor General Mubanga Kondolo, former Solicitor General and permanent secretary Dominic Sichinga and lawyer Nichola Sharpy Phiri.
Parliament heard that the appointment of the four judges was made pursuant to Section 95(1) Cap 1 of the Laws of Zambia.
However, Parliament heard that the appointment of Mchenga as High Court judge attracted objection from Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and Law Association of Zambia (LAZ).
Chairman for the select committee that was appointed to scrutinise the four nominees Jack Mwiimbu told parliament that in view of the critical role that the High Court plays in the delivery of justice, the committee undertook to ensure that only individuals who are qualified and competent and with integrity, diligence, eminence, sound character and committed to the promotion of justice should serve on the High Court bench.
Mwiimbu said the committee carefully selected and scrutinised the witnesses to assist it assess the suitability of the nominees.
He told Parliament that all witnesses except for TIZ and LAZ supported the appointment of Mchenga as High Court judge.
Mwiimbu told parliament that while appreciating the fact that Mchenga was eminently qualified to be appointed as High Court judge,TIZ and LAZ believed that he Mchenga had been compromised in the manner he handled the late president Frederick Chiluba's case.
"They believe that the nominee's decision not to appeal against the FTJ judgment was influenced by other considerations other than that of the law," he said.
Parliament also heard that the Human Rights Commission (HRC) on the other hand could not state its position on whether or not the committee should recommend the ratification of the four nominees.
Mwiimbu said this was in view of the public perception that surrounded the Chiluba case which believed the DPP had been compromised by the Executive hence his decision not to appeal against the magistrates' court judgment that acquitted Chiluba.
He said the Human Rights Commission strongly recommended that it was against the principle of judging a person based on public perception.
Mwiimbu said the HRC was of the view that Mchenga was unfairly judged with no chance of being heard .
He further said the committee realised that non of the organisations or individuals that criticised the DPP's decision challenged it from the stand point of the law.
Mwiimbu added that Mchenga contended that he expected LAZ to point out the grounds of appeal being an association of lawyers.
He told parliament that LAZ still considered Mchenga to be in good standing with the association.
"In view of the foregoing, the committee is unanimous in resolving that in the absence of substantial evidence, to prove the allegations against him, the nominee was unfairly judged and that in the interest of the rules of natural justice and human rights, your committee will not hold the allegations against him, your committee will recommend that his nomination be ratified," said Mwiimbu.
On the appointment of Kondolo, Parliament heard that all the stakeholders that appeared unanimously supported his ratification as judge.
Mwiimbu said the committee heard that Kondolo was an eminent lawyer at the bar for 20 years and that he had acquired the necessary competencies and experience to handle the job.
He said the committee also learnt that Sichinga held various legal positions and as such he was suitably qualified to be appointed High Court judge.
Mwiimbu said there were no reservations in recommending the ratification of Sichinga's appointment.
The House also heard that Phiri was an eminent lawyer who stood firm on matters of integrity.
Mwiimbu told the House that although she had not served in high government positions, Phiri had in the last 20 years practiced law.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, JACK MWIIMBU, JUDICIARY, PARLIAMENT
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Mchenga has no integrity and must go
By The Post
Sun 05 June 2011, 04:01 CAT
The Director of Public Prosecution’s withdrawal of the appeal against Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal on the corruption charges he was facing has done a lot of damage to many things in our country.
And Musa Mwenye, president of the Law Association of Zambia, is right when he says that this case has not aided the development of law in our country and it has left many issues unsettled.
And we feel it has also aided or abated corruption in our country. It has encouraged impunity. It has also encouraged lawlessness. And we know that every lawless act leaves an incurable wound, like one left by a double-edged sword.
It is good that the Law Association of Zambia has decided to put the matter of the failure to appeal Chiluba’s questionable acquittal into proper perspective.
It is important that organisations such as the law association continue to guide our people and explain complex legal issues in a manner that many of our people can understand. It is very difficult to disagree with Musa when he says that the issue they are unhappy about is not whether or not Chiluba is guilty or innocent, but rather the fact that judicial processes have been called into question by Chalwe Mchenga’s recklessness.
A process that should have been allowed to proceed in a normal way was short-circuited to accommodate petty partisan and very narrow interests. Mchenga chose to allow politicians to abuse his power in order to pursue their political interests.
By this act, Mchenga abdicated his office and joined politicians in raping the sanctity of our Constitution and permanently scarring the integrity of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
What Mchenga has done will continue to haunt that office for many years to come. It is difficult for our people to believe that people who occupy that office make decisions in the general public interest. That damage has been done by Mchenga more than any other Director of Public Prosecutions before him.
We are not saying that other Director of Public Prosecutions have not had problems of their own. But what is clear is that Mchenga has taken issues to another level. It is difficult to think of any other Director of Public Prosecutions who has disgraced that office more than Mchenga has.
Even Director of Public Prosecutions in a one party state as Zambia was until 1991 behaved with more dignity, integrity and independence than Mchenga is showing today.
The little law that we have learnt has taught us that one of the ways of ensuring the independence of constitutional offices such as that of the Director of Public Prosecutions is to provide the occupants with security of tenure. This means that the person who occupies such an office cannot be fired in a willy-nilly way.
In theory, this is supposed to work very well because a Director of Public Prosecutions is able to work without fearing that the decisions that he or she takes could end up with them losing their job. But given what we have seen with Mchenga, maybe that should be left to a perfect world.
We say this because security of tenure does not seem to guarantee integrity in tenure. In fact, this security of tenure can be used to protect officers who do wrong things because they know they cannot easily be fired. Where does that leave us?
It seems to us that we must prize integrity above many other qualities that we look for in suitable constitutional office bearers. We say this because competence can be taught or acquired with experience, and where it lacks, it can be borrowed or sourced in many ways.
But integrity cannot easily be taught, especially to those that have learnt to reap the benefits of lacking integrity.
This seems to be Mchenga’s problem. We are not qualified to judge whether Mchenga is legally competent or incompetent, as surprising as that might sound given what we have said about him before.
We say this because we have never worked with him to assess whether he is competent or not. But one thing that we are sure of because we have observed it is that Mchenga is a dishonest, spineless wimp who lacks integrity.
We say this because Mchenga has consistently made strange decisions on important cases which a person of integrity could not have defended or even contemplated making.
We still remember that using or abusing the respect that his office is supposed to enjoy, Mchenga allowed himself to be used by George Kunda to lie to the nation about the case of Kashiwa Bulaya.
They told the nation that there was no strong case against Bulaya and it would be a waste of state resources to prosecute him. Mchenga even went further, as many of us know, to give Bulaya the benefit of a corrupt nolle prosequi which he personally tabled in court.
That case, as we all know, was later prosecuted by the Task Force on Corruption after concerted public pressure and Levy Mwanawasa ordering that it be taken back to court. Bulaya was convicted. He appealed to the High Court and his conviction was upheld. Mchenga still has issues to answer about his behaviour in the Bulaya debacle.
Did he exercise his power independently or did he allow politicians to use his office to rubberstamp their decisions? Our answer to this question is that Mchenga had allowed the politicians to take out the case of Bulaya from the courts and to take it back to the courts when the politics around it became too hot.
It was not Mchenga’s decision to take that matter out of court and to take it back. George Kunda took that matter out of court and Levy took it back to court. Mchenga was simply a dishonourable conduit in this whole matter.
Bulaya’s case is not the only case where Mchenga has disgraced his office. A few days ago, another potential beneficiary of his lack of integrity was unfortunately convicted by the High Court, notwithstanding Mchenga’s wishes.
Mchenga’s office went to court and tried to secure the freedom of Anuj Rathi by condemning the work of the Task Force on Corruption. Instead of Rathi’s lawyers defending their client, the Director of Public Prosecution’s office took over and started defending a criminal.
Shamelessly, Mchenga’s office was arguing that Rathi was not guilty when they knew that Rathi’s co-conspirator retired Lt Gen Wilford Funjika had already been convicted, sentenced and served jail time for receiving bribes from Rathi.
Why was Mchenga ready to embarrass his office by the senseless defence of Rathi? There can be only one explanation: Rathi was a dear friend of Mchenga’s political masters who needed to be protected. Today, Mchenga’s reputation has been torn into further shreds because of his lack of integrity.
A man of integrity would not do with the office of Director of Public Prosecutions what Mchenga is doing with it.
In the matter of Chiluba that Musa is referring to, Mchenga again told lies to the nation. He claimed that he had not given permission to anyone to appeal against Chiluba’s acquittal when he knew very well that such express permission from him was not needed.
We say this because Mchenga had a judgment in his office from judge Mervin Mwanamwambwa which said that once he had given the initial authority to prosecute, there was no need for further authority to appeal. Again we ask: was Mchenga’s statement that he needed to give authority a product of incompetence or was it a question of willful dishonesty and lack of integrity?
Anyway, it is clear that Mchenga has a lot to answer for in the way that he has run his office which he has disgraced completely by seeming prepared to tell lies for the benefit of his political masters. This spineless wimp simply has no integrity and must go.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, DPP, MUSA MWENYE
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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
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Zambia needs new political dispensation - Nkole
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 13 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE due process of the law will continue to be interfered with if the same political group remains in office after this year’s general elections, says Maxwell Nkole. Nkole, who is former Task Force on Corruption chairperson, said it would be difficult to have a new way of doing things under the current regime.
“I think we will continue on the same old platform and the due process of the law will continue to be interfered with, unfortunately. And that is up to the Zambian people to decide if this is what they want to see continuing. This is a year of elections, you never know where the country is going to go to,” Nkole said.
“But I know that the law normally is changed by the political system obtaining at the time, and should that change come this year, then I am sure that these issues will be looked at totally differently.”
Nkole said there was need for a new political dispensation to address issues like realising people’s demands for Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga to go for allowing the Executive to usurp his powers.
He said whatever the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) would try to do to remove Mchenga, even constitutionally, would face opposition from the government as he owed his continued stay in office to the current administration.
“So LAZ would have a mammoth task to try to issue any kind of mandate for the replacement of the DPP.
But it is an issue which amongst the legal fraternity, legal profession they are supposed to reflect on as to the independence of the DPP’s office, and also of the performance of the individual who is actually holding office,” Nkole said.
“That is within their competence as LAZ. They can come up with a position if they concur with the previous LAZ executive. If they have to add any more momentum and guidance, they should be at liberty to do so as well.”
Nkole said a new government after the elections would create an environment where the new LAZ could work, given the political direction the country would take.
“So in a way all those cases that have been withdrawn or suspended can only be revisited, I think, with a new political dispensation, not in the current system. So those are not dead issues. They are still alive I think in the minds of most Zambians,” said Nkole.
“And you can’t go beyond where we have gone, apart from stating very categorically that justice has been suffocated midway.”
Nkole said if another political group came into office they would look at issues differently, and then the new LAZ would have an environment within which they could interpret the law effectively.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, MAXWELL NKOLE, SEPARATION OF POWERS
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Kabimba holds Kunda responsible for constitution failure
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 12 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
GEORGE Kunda must be held accountable for the failure of the constitution-making process because he wanted to make a constitution that would suit his and the MMD’s interests, says Lusaka lawyer Wynter Kabimba.
And Kabimba, who is also opposition PF national secretary, said the injustice of Director of Public Prosecutions Chalwe Mchenga cannot be allowed to continue.
Endorsing Law Association of Zambia president Musa Mwenye’s remark that someone in government should be held accountable for the constitution-making process failure - a process on which over K200 billion taxpayers money was wasted, Kabimba said Vice-President Kunda failed to listen to the views of the people by bulldozing the constitution-making process so that his and the MMD’s interests could be guaranteed.
“There is no doubt that they again wanted to tailor the constitution to suit the MMD. There is no doubt about that. This again was not going to be the people’s constitution. It was going to be an MMD constitution,” he said.
Kabimba said something should be done over the K200 billion which was wasted on the futile process.
“What does the government financial regulations say? If you misuse government money you should be surcharged. That is what the regulations say, civil service financial regulations or public service financial regulations say you must be surcharged for that misuse,” Kabimba said.
“In other words all of George Kunda’s gratuity must go back to the people of Zambia in form of a surcharge. He must be surcharged for that uncalled for expenditure because it means even as he was pursuing that, his intention was not to do the right thing.”
Kabimba said Vice-President Kunda had carried forward the lies which started during late president Levy Mwanawasa’s reign.
He said the government had announced then that they would repeal the 1996 Constitution through the Willa Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).
Mwenye last Monday demanded that someone in government be held accountable over the constitution-making process failure.
He said his personal views on the matter, which he issued in 2006 and 2007, were that the process of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) was doomed to fail.
“The reason why I said what I said at the time was because of the infusion of partisan interests into an otherwise national undertaking. At the time I proposed that for the process to be successful the draft constitution adopted by a broadly representative organ should only be submitted to Parliament after it has been approved by the people in a Referendum,” Mwenye said.
“I suggested at the time that since the people were, for lack of a better term, the appointers of the legislators, they should reserve for themselves the right to directly approve the Constitution in a Referendum after which their agents had no choice but to pass the document as approved.”
Mwenye said what he warned would occur had now actually happened.
“My view is that someone must be held accountable for not listening to the views of the people. The back stops at the government’s table. So it is up to the government to tell us exactly who should be held accountable within their ranks,” he said.
Mwenye said it was a tragedy that the nation had wasted billions of money on a failed process, saying the nation could ill-afford to waste so much money.
On the government’s announcement that they would reintroduce the constitution bills which were shot down by Parliament if they were re-elected into office, Mwenye said this was a process that was doomed to fail.
“You can’t reinstate a fatal process. What government should be saying is that perhaps; ‘we need to come to a place where we can reconstruct what the views of the people are with regard to this constitution, after which we should submit to the Referendum after which we should talk about taking this issue to Parliament',” said Mwenye.
“All of us who may have participated in NCC despite clear warnings should re-examine our consciences on what part we have played in plundering the national resources, or wastage of national resources.”
And Kabimba said Mchenga must go because he lacked integrity by betraying the cause of the people.
“There is no way you are going to have a credible criminal justice system if the DPP is compromised or appears to be compromised. You can’t have a credible criminal justice system. That is what the people of Zambia have been crying about,” said Kabimba.
“Failure to appeal most of these plunder cases have not convinced the people of Zambia that that failure is in the interest of the people.”
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CONSTITUTION, GEORGE KUNDA, NCC, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Push for DPP’s resignation, Citizens Forum urges LAZ
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 07 May 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE new LAZ should lead the way in mounting pressure on Chalwe Mchenga to go, says Simon Kabanda. Kabanda, who is Citizens Forum executive director, said people had high expectations for the new Musa Mwenye-led Law Association of Zambia.
He said the position taken by the previous Stephen Lungu-led LAZ for Director of Public Prosecution Mchenga to vacate office should be upheld and effected.
“We are happy with the people that LAZ has put into office. So what we would want to urge them is that they should uphold the decision that was passed by the previous LAZ executive regarding the fate of the DPP Mchenga,” Kabanda said.
“We want them to be putting pressure. This new executive must ensure that they put pressure to ensure that the decision is effected. And this is what we expect from them, nothing less than that.”
Kabanda said not only had the image of the Judiciary been tainted because of political interference from the Executive, people also had a lot of questions on the Judiciary because of people like Mchenga.
He said LAZ should work towards restoring the image of the Judiciary, and one of the ways towards achieving that was pushing judicial officers like Mchenga out of the way.
Kabanda said Mchenga had committed a lot of injustices against the people of Zambia by trying to get in the way of justice over important cases like the attempt to free convicted Kashiwa Bulaya and the decision to withdraw an appeal on former president Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal.
He said illegality should not be allowed to continue rearing its ugly head in judicial offices.
“There is a general perception, and I want to underline this, the general perception in the country is that the Executive has an influence on the decisions the Judiciary makes. Now that perception should not be proved right, the principal actors like the DPP should go so that the image of the Judiciary can be restored,” said Kabanda.
Last year, LAZ came up with a position for Mchenga to resign over assertions that the Executive had usurped his powers.
President Banda had disclosed during one of the meetings that he stopped an appeal in the matter where Chiluba was acquitted by the magistrates’ court over corruption charges.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, DPP, LAZ, SIMON KABANDA
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Mchenga, Shonga’s lies about abuse of office
By The Post
Fri 15 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT
In their attempt to justify their unjustifiable decision to remove the abuse of office offence from our statute books, they have no alternative but to shamelessly resort to lies.
Rupiah Banda and George Kunda’s representatives – Director of Public Prosecutions Chalwe Mchenga, Attorney General Abyudi Shonga and Ministry of Justice permanent secretary in charge of administration Annie Sitali – failed in their attempt to justify the removal of abuse of office from the Anti Corruption Commission Act when they appeared before the parliamentary committee on legal affairs, governance, human rights and gender matters on Wednesday.
Last week, Professor Michelo Hansungule challenged the government to give reasons for their desperation to remove abuse of office from our statutes. He rightly observed that it seems that the motivation for this move has nothing to do with good governance but an attempt to protect themselves because they know they have done wrong things. The appearance of Mchenga, Shonga and Sitali before the parliamentary committee went a long way to prove that Prof Hansungule is right.
We say this because these three individuals are well-educated Zambians capable of articulating their positions clearly and in a defensible manner. But what happened on Wednesday demonstrates that even they do not have any meaningful arguments to deploy.
In many ways, they resorted to half-truths and outright lies to try and justify something that they have been instructed to justify. They know that it is not justifiable, but maybe for fear of losing their jobs, they are ready to wriggle like a snake between two diametrically opposed positions. They have a crisis in their minds. If they tell the truth, they are fired; if they lie, they are disgraced. What do they do? It is unfortunate that in this day and age, professionals should be subjected to the whims and unreasonable demands of people like George.
It is very clear that George is driving this shameless agenda as he has many times before. George has developed a taste for power which has led him to abandon any pretence of decency. He is ready to do whatever it takes to remain in power and defend what he considers to be the legitimate dividend of his position. This is coming out even in the arguments that they are making. When civil servants stand up and try to defend crime in public, then we all must know that there is something very wrong. How can people argue that it is acceptable, it is not wrong for public servants to make money using their public offices without any accountability or restraint?
This is what the representatives of Rupiah and George were saying at Parliament. Shonga and Sitali even suggested that the current law is unconstitutional. This is a lie. Shonga went even further by saying that such accountability was appropriate under Kenneth Kaunda’s one-party and socialist-oriented state and not in today’s liberalised capitalist economy. What nonsense is this? As we have always said, if you don’t understand issues, it is better to shut up than to expose one’s ignorance in public.
We like the saying by some people that it is better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. Shonga as Attorney General should not make such careless statements to please his political masters. Can he show that the law, as it stands today, is unconstitutional? If these are the people that are advising Rupiah, then we have a big problem indeed. Maybe it is Rupiah advising them instead of the other way round because a serious lawyer could not make such a reckless statement.
If Shonga and Sitali are saying that the current law is unconstitutional, maybe they are talking about a different constitution which they are concocting with George. The Anti Corruption Commission Act as it stands today is consistent with the Constitution of Zambia. Shonga said that section 37 of the Anti Corruption Commission Act being unconstitutional was the major reason for its removal. Sitali, on her part, says that requiring an accused person to prove certain facts was unconstitutional. What both Shonga and Sitali are forgetting is that they are not the only ones who read the law.
We are pleased that we have learnt a little law and that even with that little law, we can show that they are liars. They are behaving like dishonest mercenaries. The Constitution is very specific about the issue they are debating. Article 18 (12)a says, “Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of – (a)paragraph (a) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence the burden of proving particular facts”. This constitutional provision allows the laws of our land to require suspects to prove certain facts notwithstanding the provisions of Article 18(2)(a) which states that “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence – (a) shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty…”
These provisions are there in our Constitution and it is not possible that the entire Attorney General and his permanent secretary are unaware of this law. They were simply being dishonest; they went to Parliament with no other intention but to lie, deceive, mislead, manipulate the members of parliament and public opinion. This is definitely not a recipe for governing well. It’s clear that they are up to no good.
This is why Shonga even tried to discuss socialism, a matter which he did not seem to understand well. He would have done well to go and consult Dr Kenneth Kaunda before talking about issues he doesn’t understand. The issues that Parliament is grappling with are serious issues that have far-reaching consequences on all of us. There is no civilised state, capitalist, socialist or any other state whatever its description, that should accept the abuse of public office for personal benefit. There is only one state that accepts abuse of office: a corrupt state, run by corrupt people – a kleptocracy.
But surprisingly even Mobutu’s kleptocracy could not publicly say abuse of public office was acceptable even though it was the order of the day in Zaire. They knew that what they were doing was wrong and the most they could do was deny that there was any such abuse of office. Even Mobutu would look better when compared with the brazenness with which this Zambian kleptocracy wants to defend its crimes, its corruption, its abuse of public office and resources.
There is nothing socialist, capitalist or liberal about corruption, abuse of office. Any honest economic or political system abhors wrongdoing. There is no honest capitalist country in the world today which permits its leaders and public servants to acquire wealth, using their offices, and which they cannot account for. The United States, the most advanced capitalist country in the world, is the most strict country on this planet when it comes to abuse of public office.
We say this because in that country, abuse of public office is not only unacceptable legally but has also become a moral and cultural issue. In our view, this is one of the greatest contributions of the American Revolution to good governance in the world. China is also very strict about corruption in their country. They understand the grave consequences that could arise if corruption were allowed to flourish unchecked.
In China today, the offences that Frederick Chiluba and his friends committed would have been matters for capital punishment – they would be dead. That is how seriously they take corruption. This is a system founded on a deeply held belief that government is run best when the potential for the abuse of government offices by those holding or occupying them is curbed, and when it is held as close to the people as possible.
The issue of the leadership code that Shonga was trying to use to justify their criminal scheme does not hold water. Under Kaunda, leaders were allowed to run businesses. But there were very high levels of accountability that accompanied this. Enoch Kavindele was a member of the UNIP central committee but was allowed to run his businesses upon accepting the requirements of accountability that ensured that he did not abuse his position in the leadership of our country to enrich himself. The problem is not running business; it is abusing one’s office to enrich oneself. The problem here is corruption not running business. If you run business, you are able to account for your wealth if you have any. This is what civilised societies do.
Mchenga argued that Parliament should remove the offence of abuse of office because Zambians do not know how to keep receipts for the houses they are building. This is also a lie. The problem here is not about keeping receipts or producing them when they are needed. There is no honest person in this country who can fail to account for his house even if he doesn’t have receipts. Anyway, let him tell us how many people have been sent to jail since this law was enacted for failing to produce receipts for a house they had built from legitimately earned income. The truth is there is none. Mchenga is lying.
As for Mchenga, it seems lying is his preferred way of maintaining his job. It’s no wonder that the Law Association of Zambia has asked him to resign because he is not fit to continue in that very important public office when his instincts drive him to defend crime instead of prosecuting it. And since when has Mchenga been really concerned about justice?
All he defends every day on important public matters is injustice. We can ask: what justice was Mchenga advancing when he advanced that treacherous nolle prosequi to Kashiwa Bulaya?
What justice was Mchenga defending when he withdrew the appeal against what was clearly an unjustified acquittal of Chiluba by Jones Chinyama? There are more questions about justice Mchenga will one day be forced to answer.
Let them just do what they want to do without the nonsense of their explanations and insulting the collective intelligence of the Zambian people.
Labels: ACC, CHALWE MCHENGA, CORRUPTION, GEORGE KUNDA, MICHELO HANSUNGULE, RUPIAH BANDA
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Mchenga, Shonga justify abuse of office clause removal
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 15 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ATTORNEY General Abyud Shonga has revealed that the government proposed to remove the abuse of office offence from the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act because it has existed unconstitutionally. And Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga has supported the removal of the offence from the Anti Corruption bill, saying it does not promote justice in its current form.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Governance, Human Rights and Gender Matters on Wednesday, Shonga contended that the law worked better under a one party State where leaders were not allowed to own businesses. He argued that under multipartyism, it would not be fair to maintain such a law because public officers are allowed to own and run businesses.
When asked by committee chairperson Jack Mwiimbu if he was of the view that the abuse of office offence has existed unconstitutionally, Shonga answered in the affirmative.
“I prefer not to get boxed in like that, but I my answer that it is unconstitutional when you look at it vis-a-vis the Constitution. I can’t come to a conclusion, any conclusion, except to agree that this provision may actually be unconstitutional.
As to whether that is the main reason for removing it, it’s safer to say it’s one of the reasons for removal, albeit a major reason for removal. This provision was logical in the context of socialism and the one party state but has since become redundant since the advent of the liberalisation of the economy,” Shonga said.
“The provision is additionally discriminatory as it ignores private sector corruption, which is also a reality. For me the problem here is that in this time and age, with this progressive and liberalised economy; liberalised on account of good policies that honourable members some of whom are sitting here have passed in that August House, things have changed. And public officers are allowed to run businesses; this is a direct contradiction.
I would go further to say that it is arguable, I think with merit, that the requirement for a person affected by section 37 (1) to come across and be compelled to testify about certain issues… what then about the fundamental constitutional issues that we know accused persons are allowed? My view is that I would support the removal of section 37 because I don’t think that a bad, wrong, illegal, unconducive environment is created by its removal. In fact, on the contrary, we are helping to cure the document.”
Shonga claimed that the government’s intention of removing section 37 from the ACC Act was in good faith. When told that the Law Association of Zambia in its submission concluded by saying that it would be dangerous to remove the abuse of office offence from the laws, Shonga disagreed strongly.
“O, that is what LAZ is saying? I must with greatest respect disagree with their conclusion. That is my comment, especially that section 99, I think, of the Penal Code crystalises the offence created in 37 (1). It’s there, it’s preserved on our statutes,” he argued.
When it was again mentioned to him that most stakeholders had submitted against the removal of the offence, Shonga expressed surprise.
“I would be surprised with such a submission. Then again, where there are 10 lawyers, there are 10 opinions. My approach is to look at it the way I understand vis-a-vis the Constitution which protects me in the event that I am accused of an offence. So, in relation to this, I would have some difficulties there,” submitted Shonga.
Earlier, Ministry of Justice permanent secretary in charge of administration Annie Sitali explained further on the alleged unconstitutionality of the abuse of office offence.
She argued that while the Constitution allowed an accused person to remain silent if they wished, section 37 of the ACC Act compelled them to talk, failure to which they would be presumed guilty.
Asked by Mwiimbu if the committee should recommend to Parliament that it was the government’s submission that section 37 of the ACC Act is unconstitutional, Sitali answered in the affirmative.
“You know certain things have crept into our statute books, and without a challenge we get by with it. We are stating here very strongly that Section 37, to the extent that it requires an accused person to give a satisfactory explanation to the court or else he will be considered guilty, to that extent it is actually unconstitutional.
And the issue of the accused having a burden to prove particular facts is not quite the same as where you are saying, ‘give us facts that are satisfactory or else you will be considered guilty,’ because we have to look at the factors. A person is presumed innocent until they’re found guilty. And these are issues we can’t run away from. And we still feel very strongly that this provision in its current form is unconstitutional,” Sitali contended.
She argued that there were other provisions in the Penal Code that catered for the abuse of office offence.
“So we are saying there’s a provision in the Penal Code which deals with abuse of office in relation to corruption. If an accused person chooses to remain silent, you can’t compel them.
And this provision section 37 of the ACC Act is saying, ‘if those that are accusing you are saying you are guilty, you must give an explanation to the satisfaction of the court or else you will be jailed’. That is the difficulty we have. And if you look at the provisions that we have, we have consistently said we have the Penal Code provision for abuse of office which fits well with the constitutional provisions,” said Sitali.
“We have clause 21, we have clause 33, all of which are dealing with abuse of authority of office. So we are saying what we have difficulties with are those provisions that are actually taking away the constitutional protection of a person as far as security before the law is concerned. So we feel that you cannot maintain this current provision in its current form because it’s unconstitutional, and that’s why it has been taken out.”
And Mchenga, who indicated that he could only provide his opinion rather than the rationale for removing the offence, submitted that the country’s poor record system made it difficult for accused person to provide relevant evidence before the court under the provisions of section 37.
“Now as we interacted, one issue that came up is that, fine, if you had a law like that and you required a public official to explain if you have a situation where they have got property that is not commensurate to their income and you request them to make an explanation, one of the challenges you face is that we have a system that has got poor record keeping in this country. Even a person who purchases a thing, after two, three years you go back to the seller, the seller does not keep record,” Mchenga said.
“And the situation we find ourselves in is that if a person is charged with an offence under that section section 37, because the current Anti Corruption Commission Act says past and present income.
And if a person is charged with an offence, for example, and he says ‘I’ve been building a house for the last 10 years, what is expected is for him to bring proof about how he’s got these materials. But it’s common knowledge that our record keeping is very poor, and it’s unlikely that if you request a person to go and bring that evidence of his purchases he will not find it.
So what was coming out is that the balance is heaped against the accused person. It’s most unlikely for the person to be able to explain, even those who maintain genuine income. So, those were the arguments when the bill was being discussed in connection with section 37.”
Mchenga said the 1996 ACC Act did not introduce the abuse of office offence, saying it was carried over from the 1980 Act.
And Mchenga submitted that in his six year tenure as DPP, no one had ever been prosecuted and convicted for having property not commensurate to their income.
“When I say no one has been prosecuted, I’m not saying I’ve not authorised any one. I've not received a docket recommending that anyone should be prosecuted for that offence. Now that being the case, I would say that the argument is neither here nor there because no one has been prosecuted for that offence. And having said that, I'm not aware of anyone who has been convicted for this offence," submitted Mchenga.
"May be before I proceed, the people who have been prosecuted and convicted for abuse of authority of office, it's not in relation to having property. It's in relation to using their positions to gain property. That is the clarification I need to make.
That's why at the beginning I indicated that there are two links; there's one link that involves having property or living a lifestyle beyond their means. The other link relates to a person abusing his position to get property, give contracts. The part that relates to a person abusing his position to gain property and give business is the one for which we have had prosecutions."
Labels: ABYUDA SHONGA, ACC, CHALWE MCHENGA, CORRUPTION
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DPP drops espionage case against Sata
By Mwala Kalaluka
Thu 23 Sep. 2010, 08:10 CAT
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga has dropped a 2005 High Court Espionage case against PF leader Michael Sata, which involved planting of explosives at Konkola Copper Mine in Chililabombwe. This is in a matter where Sata stood charged of Espionage, contrary to Section 3 (d) of the State Security Chapter 111 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence were that Sata between June 30, 2005 and July 21, 2005 in Chililabombwe on the Copperbelt, jointly and whilst acting together with other persons unknown and for purposes prejudicial to the interests of the Republic of Zambia did without lawful excuse counsel or procure miners at Chililabombwe, Konkola Copper Mines 590 m level to plant explosives, an act which was likely to interfere with carrying on of mining, a necessary service.
On August 15, 2005, Mchenga had stated that pursuant to the powers vested in him by Section 254 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he certified that the above was a proper case for trial by the High Court as a Summary Procedure case.
But in response to correspondence from Sata’s lawyers, Ellis and Company, which date from as far back as December 12, 2005, Mchenga in his latest letter dated September 20, 2010 stated that the Espionage charge against Sata had been dropped.
“I write to advise that the above captioned case will not be cause-listed because I have decided to drop the charge against him,” Mchenga stated.
Mchenga was responding to several letters from Ellis and Company Legal Practitioners where they requested that Sata’s Espionage case should be cause-listed for the next available criminal session or that Mchenga having issued a certificate for the matter to proceed into summary trial, should advise whether the state intended to proceed with the prosecution of the case.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=13945
Rupiah turned Parliament into a campaign ground – Madyenkunku
By George Chellah
Wed 22 Sep. 2010, 04:01 CAT
SYACHEYE Madyenkuku yesterday said President Rupiah Banda’s recent speech to Parliament compromises the stature and status of the House.
And PF vice-president Guy Scott said President Banda broke the rules of Parliament and his speech will have an unfortunate effect on the debate.
Commenting on President Banda’s speech during the official opening of the National Assembly last week, Madyenkuku, who is also PF vice chairman for mobilization, described President Banda’s address as unfortunate.
“It compromises the stature and status of that sacred House. Parliament is a very sacred House where you discuss only matters of legislation and promulgation of government policies sincerely,”
Madyenkuku said.
“Now we are seeing a situation where Parliament is being turned into a campaign football ground. What will stop others from using Parliament as a political battlefield? We send those people for serious business.”
He said Parliament was not a launch pad for political campaigns.
“Parliament is supposed to be used as a platform for projecting government activities in the next 12 months and give a vision to the country of what is expected. If a campaign has to be part of that speech it must be not so obvious,” Madyenkuku said.
“You can’t go out that plainly and declare…basically he has declared his campaign for 2011. You don’t do that in Parliament. To make the opening of Parliament an election campaign launch means that even the government will lose concentration.
“The focus will be on the campaigns even the civil service will not have any serious supervision because the executive is now focusing on the campaigns. The ministers have already taken a cue from the President that ‘now you go out and campaign’.”
He said future Presidents must desist from using the opening of Parliament as an open political battlefield.
“Fortunately, this is going to be the last time he President Banda is going to address Parliament before elections are called,” Madyenkuku said.
“It’s obvious and indications are that the opposition are forming government next year.”
And Scott said President Banda was campaigning.
“Most people have said the obvious about his speech, obvious in the sense that he was breaking the rules. Parliament is not a rally ground, the President’s speech is supposed to be like a Queen’s speech in the British Parliament. You give a preview of legislation but that’s not what he did,” Scott said.
“He basically started boasting about his achievements, denying any mistakes and denying corruption. He was campaigning. It will have an unfortunate effect on the debate, which is coming now, which is the debate on the motion of thanks for the President’s speech because everyone is going to be campaigning now.”
He said even the President’s published speech contained jokes about named people.
He said President Banda admitted that the agricultural marketing system was not adequate.
“That’s in complete contrast to what the government said when Mapatizya UPND member of parliament Ackson Sejani and myself introduced a motion urging the government to sort out the agricultural marketing system. The MMD killed the motion saying ‘we have got very adequate agricultural marketing system so there is no point’. But here is Banda himself saying we are consulting,” he said.
Scott said there was nothing new in President Banda’s speech.
“The rest of the speech is stuff we have heard, it’s songs we have heard before,” said Scott.
On Friday last week during the official opening of the fifth session of the tenth National Assembly in Lusaka, President Banda disclosed that he had hired a personal physical trainer in preparation for the 2011 election campaigns.
He said since the election would not be for the faint hearted, it was important to prepare himself physically.
“Let me share a little secret with this August House. I have recently hired a personal physical trainer and intend to be fighting fit for the campaign year. I urge all members to do likewise, though through proper fitness and not by having domestic fights,” said President Banda.
“2011 will not be for the faint hearted. I will fight to win this election so that I can continue to fight to win for Zambia. We have set the foundations, now is the time to build a stronger Zambia.”
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CORRUPTION, DPP, MICHAEL SATA
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Changwe’s case has embarrassed DPP, police - ZCEA
By George Chellah
Wed 18 Aug. 2010, 04:03 CAT
GENDER deputy minister Lucy Changwe’s case has embarrassed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga and the police, Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) executive director Judith Mulenga said yesterday. And Mulenga advised Changwe to resign from office.
Commenting on
the delay by the police to arrest and prosecute Changwe for bouncing a cheque amounting to K10 million, Mulenga expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which Changwe’s matter had been handled.
“I think the case is embarrassing the law enforcement agencies particularly the police,” Mulenga said. “The case has embarrassed the DPP and the police.”
She said the law must take its course on the matter.
“Zambians are waiting, we are waiting. It’s not like just because people are not talking then they are not concerned,” Mulenga said.
“We are waiting for them police to do something about it.”
She said there was need for the law enforcement agencies to constantly inform the people about the matter.
“If they are still investigating the matter let them tell us how far they have gone with their investigations,” Mulenga said.
“They always tell us when they are doing investigations and how they are progressing. The citizens have to be updated on what is going on this matter.”
She said Changwe’s non-arrest and prosecution strengthens the interpretation that Kafulafuta MMD member of parliament George Mpombo’s case was vindictive.
“If they expedited the Mpombo case then they also have the capacity to expedite the Changwe case,” she said.
Mulenga advised Changwe to vacate office.
“Changwe must emulate education minister Dora Siliya and resign on her own, Dora resigned. But the question is, has Changwe made any effort to resign?” Mulenga asked.
“She should resign and wait for the appointing authority to make a decision whether to respect her resignation or not.”
She said the manner in which Changwe’s case had been handled raised issues of professionalism on the part of the police.
“Zambians have talked about the conduct of the police, what more do they want? They are unprofessional,” said Mulenga.
Changwe, who is also Mkushi North MMD member of parliament, bounced a K10 million cheque in a house purchase transaction.
Roger Musonda, the owner of the property in question has already reported the matter to police.
Musonda said he was convinced that there is a strong case against Changwe.
Musonda said he is very suspicious about the delay by police to arrest and prosecute Changwe for bouncing a cheque.
Recently, Mpombo was convicted by the magistrate’s court in Ndola on one count of issuing a cheque on an insufficiently funded account.
Mpombo was slapped with a two months sentence and a K4 million fine.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, LUCY CHANGWE, ZCEA
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Administration of criminal justice the Mchenga way
By Editor
Tue 22 June 2010, 04:00 CAT
As we have stated before, in every society throughout history, those who administer the criminal justice system hold power with the potential for abuse.
But no honest, fair and just society can tolerate such abuses.
Every state must have the power to maintain law and order and punish criminal acts, but the rules and procedures by which the state enforces its laws must be explicit, and not arbitrary or subject to political manipulation by those in power.
Looking at the way criminal issues have been dealt with by the state since Chalwe Mchenga became the Director of Public Prosecutions, one cannot remove arbitrariness and political manipulation from our criminal justice system. Mchenga seems to have entrenched a shameful practice.
The office of Director of Public Prosecutions is an important institution in ensuring the maintenance of law and order. The occupant of such an office must possess the highest levels of integrity and judgment. A careless approach to the powers that that office possesses could easily plunge the nation into chaos. This is something that Mchenga needs to be sensitive to. He needs to exercise the powers of that office with maturity and independence.
But his record so far is a shameful one which no honest person could defend. As things stand today, Mchenga has been denounced by his peers in the Law Association of Zambia because of the lack of evenhandedness in the way that he conducted himself in relation to the Frederick Chiluba affair.
Mchenga’s record does not give any comfort at all. We have not forgotten that Chiluba used him to punish the late Archie Mactribuoy because of the suspected inappropriate relationship with his wife. For that reason alone, Mchenga prosecuted Mactribuoy for all sorts of things. We wonder whether Mchenga can defend his actions in that matter.
The Kashiwa Bulaya case clearly demonstrated what sort of person Mchenga is. Levy Mwanawasa and George Kunda used him to stop Bulaya’s prosecution through a crooked and an unjustifiable nolle prosequi. When the matter became too hot and was threatening Levy’s presidency, Mchenga was used to publicly defend this nonsensical decision. When Levy decided to climb down, Mchenga was again used to put Bulaya back in court.
And this was the Mchenga who was used to claim that there was no evidence against Bulaya to secure a conviction. But today, we all know that Bulaya was convicted and efforts to appeal failed to save him from going to jail, albeit at University Teaching Hospital where his friends are keeping him to avoid Lusaka Central Prison hardships.
When Rupiah Banda decided to save Chiluba from a conviction and a jail sentence, Mchenga was again used to block the legitimate appeal which had been lodged. Mchenga claimed the prosecutors who had appealed Chiluba’s clearly corrupt acquittal had no authority to do so without his permission. Mchenga knew very well what the law is on this issue; he knows very well that the prosecutors didn’t need to go back to him for permission to appeal that acquittal. Judge Marvin Mwanamwambwa had clearly explained what the law is on this issue in a matter in which Mchenga was involved. But Mchenga seems to be permanently wedded to lies.
When we have called Mchenga a spineless wimp with little or no moral courage to stand for what is right, we have not done so lightly. We mean what we say. The record that Mchenga has set for himself is a very bad one. He has turned the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office into a gun for hire ready to do the bidding of his political masters however ridiculous their demands might be. A person who enjoys a protected security of tenure has reduced himself to behaving like a daily classified employee who fears that he might not be rehired the following day. This is a very dangerous trade for a man who sits on as much power as Mchenga does. The Constitution has given him power but it is not him using it. Mchenga has rented out his power to his political masters.
Mchenga has made the security of tenure of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office meaningless. Mchenga is working like someone on a contract that will need to be renewed by Rupiah or George.
A little morality – if a little is all that he has – would have helped him to see that the decisions he is making are beyond wrong – they are immoral and criminal. How can a Director of Public Prosecutions join politicians in doing the kind of nonsense Mchenga is doing?
We are still waiting to see what Mchenga does about the violence that took place in Mufumbwe. We say this because he has been quick to authorise the prosecution of opposition UPND Solwezi Central member of parliament Watson Lumba for attempted murder. This is a case where it is alleged that a policeman was beaten by UPND cadres, not Watson – but cadres. Mchenga has seen it fit to have Watson indicted for attempted murder. But this same Mchenga has failed to authorise the prosecution of ruling MMD losing candidate Mulondwe Muzungu’s son who killed three people in a hit-and-run motor vehicle incident. Mchenga has no shame in using the law to fix the political opponents of his political masters – Rupiah and George.
The case of Dr Solomon Musonda is another example of the reckless and wanton abuse of power by Mchenga and his masters. Solomon recklessly aimed a firearm at the head of an unarmed person and almost killed him. Mchenga and his political masters decide, after a long and protracted attempt to evade arrest and prosecution of Solomon, to help him avoid the obvious charge of attempted murder by giving him a simple assault charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intention to maim. Where does the intention to maim come from when Solomon shot a person in the head with a gun and not a catapult? The ridiculousness of this does not bother Mchenga. The contradictions in his decision-making don’t make him uncomfortable enough to make him do the right thing. This is the kind of Director of Public Prosecutions we have.
Another opposition UPND member of parliament Charles Kakoma was wounded grievously while sleeping by MMD cadres who can be easily traced if there is a desire to do so. But to this day, no one has been arrested. And this is what Mchenga is condoning and supporting. Mchenga’s endless gratitude for having that job has turned him into a useless and very dangerous Director of Public Prosecutions. Our people should not expect any professionalism from Mchenga because he has turned himself into an MMD cadre, an MMD prosecutor - not different from William Banda.
And this is the man who is today responsible for the arguing of the appeal cases that Rupiah’s friends have taken to court. Rupiah wants all these friends of his - all of Chiluba’s tandem of thieves - to be saved from going to jail in the same way he has saved their boss. Can anyone expect Mchenga to go against Rupiah’s wishes and argue these matters in a manner that will help sustain the convictions that were obtained by independent prosecutors? It should not surprise Zambians to see all these appeal cases deliberately bungled by Mchenga and all the convictions overturned. This is administration of the criminal justice the Mchenga way. Zambians have no sensible alternative but to denounce it and fight to stop it.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CORRUPTION, DPP, SOLOMON MUSONDA, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Kabimba questions DPP over Dr Musonda's charge
By George Chellah
Tue 22 June 2010, 09:00 CAT
Lusaka lawyer Wynter Kabimba has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga demanding that the charge against Dr Solomon Musonda be reviewed and amended before the commencement of trial.
And Kabimba has informed Mchenga that he would like to join the prosecution team in Dr Musonda’s case on pro bono basis since his appointment, as a public prosecutor in 1985, is still valid.
In a letter to Mchenga dated June 21, 2010, WM Kabimba & Company described the charge on former health deputy minister Dr Musonda as nothing but a traversity of justice considering the fact that he shot and wounded Jackson Musaka of Serenje.
Dear Sir, RE: ARREST OF DR SOLOMON MUSONDA FOR CAUSING GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM WITH INTENT TO MAIM AND DISFIGURE. The above named was arrested by the police on Thursday 17th June 2010 and has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to maim and disfigure Jackson Musaka. Dr Musonda appeared in court on Friday 18th June 2010, read Kabimba's letter in part.
As advocates for Jackson Musaka, we would like to observe that the charge against the suspect in this matter is nothing but a traversity of justice if you take into account the circumstances of the case and in particular the deliberate use of the firearm against the victim by Dr Musonda.
Accordingly, the suspect should have been charged with a more serious offence than the one he is now facing. In stating the above, we are not oblivious to the fact that under the Republican Constitution of our country you are not subject to any authority in the discharge of your duties as DPP.
However, where the circumstances of the case are so obvious and clear and appropriate criminal provisions in our statute books provide for the offence in question like attempted murder in this case, it is a mockery of justice to be seen to circumvent such provisions. It is only fair, therefore, and in the interest of justice that you review and amend the charge in question before the commencement of trial.
The law firm also informed Mchenga that they would like Kabimba to join the prosecution team in the matter.
In 1985, the then DPP had appointed and gazetted our Mr Kabimba who was at the time an advocate with Lusaka City Council as a public prosecutor. Since the said appointment is still valid, Mr Kabimba would like to join the prosecution team in the prosecution of Dr Musonda on prono bono basis, stated the letter.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, SOLOMON MUSONDA, WYNTER KABIMBA
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Dr Musonda’s prosecution: they have simply run out of sensible options
By Editor
Fri 18 June 2010, 04:00 CAT
Finally Rupiah Banda has run out of ideas or schemes on how to continue protecting Dr Solomon Musonda from prosecution. They have tried very hard to ensure that Dr Musonda is not arrested and prosecuted over this matter despite increasing public pressure.
Rupiah’s reluctance to have Dr Musonda prosecuted is understandable. If Dr Musonda is arrested and prosecuted, he may be denied bail and be forced to stay away from parliament long enough to force a parliamentary by-election. And a successful prosecution of Dr Musonda will certainly result in a parliamentary by-election. We don’t think Rupiah and the MMD are ready for that. Although they won the last by-election in this constituency, they know very well that it will not be easy for them to win another one because the political terrain is changing very fast and in a manner that is not favourable to them.
But there was a limit to how far they could go in protecting Dr Musonda. There are many legal complications in what they were trying to do because there are alternative ways of seeking redress from Dr Musonda. The decision by Dr Musonda’s victim, Jackson Musaka, to demand K500 million compensation and if this is not paid to commence civil action in the High Court must have forced them to do what they did yesterday – drop Dr Musonda from government and allow the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute him. What the Director of Public Prosecutions is doing is not in conflict with their wishes; he is simply implementing the option they have chosen. This Director of Public Prosecutions, Chalwe Mchenga, doesn’t do that which this government doesn’t want him to do. He simply fulfils their wishes. If they want him to enter a nolle prosequi in favour of anyone, he will do so and he has done so before. The Kashiwa Bulaya case is a good example of this.
And if those in power don’t want him to prosecute anyone or want him to withdraw an appeal or any action against those they favour, Mchenga will not hesitate to do so. The corruption case against Frederick Chiluba is a clear example of what we are talking about.
Some may erroneously think Rupiah has for the first time succumbed to public pressure. Rupiah has no respect for public pressure; he doesn’t care about the feelings of the people. Rupiah’s decision to drop Dr Musonda and have him prosecuted has very little, if not nothing, to do with public pressure. It has everything to do with being outmanoeuvred by those assisting the victim. Rupiah has simply been outmanoeuvred.
But this is not the end of Dr Musonda politically or this matter. Opportunities will be created for Dr Musonda to get away with crime. One cannot expect the police or the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute this matter in a manner that will have Dr Musonda convicted. At every turn, opportunities will be created for Dr Musonda to escape conviction.
And the argument by Mkhondo Lungu, Rupiah’s newly appointed UNIP Minister of Home Affairs, that Dr Musonda’s case has taken long because the Director of Public Prosecutions was out of the country at the time the shooting incident occurred, does not make sense. If this was the way every shooting incident in this country was handled, very few people would be arrested and many criminals would have enough time to flee. The usual way is that when such a crime is committed, the person behind it is arrested and taken to court awaiting instructions on how to proceed or not to proceed from the Director of Public Prosecutions. We are very sure that if it was an opposition politician who had done that, there would have been no issue of having to wait for the Director of Public Prosecutions to come back from abroad for him to be arrested. They would have instantly arrested him, and without any police being extended. And he would have been taken to court where he would have been denied bail and would be in prison pending instructions on the matter from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
If anyone had doubts on how discriminatory and unprofessional the police is being run, this case of Dr Musonda should help remove that doubt. It’s very clear that there is no right to equality before the law, or equal protection of the law, in this country. What matters is one’s political affiliation. If you an ally of those in power, you are treated more favourably and effort is made in every possible way to help you escape justice. If you are not an ally of those in power, you will always be subjected to instant justice by the law-enforcement agencies. If you commit a crime, you will there and then be arrested and accordingly prosecuted with all the odds weighed against you.
We are not in any way saying that the state can guarantee that life will treat everyone equally. It actually has no responsibility to do so. However, under no circumstances should those in control of the state impose additional inequalities; they should be required to deal evenly and equally with all citizens regardless of their political affiliations. No one is above the law.
No one in the police can today claim that they did not fully know what Dr Musoda had done. They are actually not claiming that because they know very well what Dr Musonda had done. This is why the Minister of Home Affairs is saying that Dr Musonda was not arrested because the police were still investigating the shooting incidence. What Lungu is saying is effectively that the investigations were completed a long time ago but the Director of Public Prosecutions was out of the country for the judicial process to commence against Dr Musonda. This shows us how those who administer our criminal justice system hold the power with the potential for abuse and tyranny. In the name of the state, they can arrest on trumped-up and dubious charges citizens those in power do not like. And in the name of the state and using all sorts of highly questionable arguments and sometimes outright corruption, they can exempt the friends of those in power from prosecution. No serious nation, no honest people can tolerate such abuses.
The state must have the power to maintain law and order and punish criminal acts, but the rules and procedures by which the state enforces its laws must be public and explicit, not secret, arbitrary or subject to political manipulation by those in power.
There is no credit or praise that Rupiah deserves for dropping Dr Musonda from his government and for allowing him to be prosecuted. The truth is he was not interested in Dr Musonda being prosecuted. Rupiah publicly stated that he felt sorry for Dr Musonda while not attempting in any small way to show sympathy for the victim. When did the change of heart occur on Rupiah’s part? Rupiah still feels sorry for Dr Musonda and will do everything possible to ensure that he gets away with it. We will not be surprised to find that Dr Musonda’s matter moves very quickly in our courts and is found with no case to answer or is totally acquitted of the crime. It will also not surprise us if tomorrow we wake up to find that Mchenga has been instructed to extend a nolle prosequi in favour of Dr Musonda. It is highly likely that this case will go nowhere. They will do something to rescue Dr Musonda and ensure that Musaka and the people do not receive justice. For now, they have to let the judicial process appear to be taking its course in the matter when in actual fact it is not taking its course but is being directed by the forces in power.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, JACKSON MUSAKA, MMD, MURDER, RUPIAH BANDA, SATA, SOLOMON MUSONDA
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Nawakwi ‘congratulates’ Rupiah for making Kabwela a hero
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 07 May 2010, 04:50 CAT
FDD president Edith Nawakwi yesterday mockingly congratulated President Rupiah Banda for making Post news editor Chansa Kabwela a hero. Commenting on Kabwela’s awards by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, Nawakwi said Kabwela’s Most Courageous Journalist award was for women carrying placentas in their buckets.
Nawakwi said what President Banda perceived bad when he ordered the prosecution of Kabwela for highlighting the plight of a woman who delivered outside the hospital due to the strike in the health sector then, had now turned good towards Kabwela, the women and the nation in general.
“You see heroes are not born, heroes are made by politicians. And we thank the President for making one of ours a brave woman. He could have just ignored those pictures, we would never have heard about heroism of one young lady, but thanks to the politicians, they make martyrs and heroes out of my sisters, ladies like Kabwela,” Nawakwi said.
“So for me I want to congratulate the President for making my sister a hero, and we really accept the award and thank UNESCO for the recognition because you are talking of the world over, and we will never have heard about a brave young lady Chansa Kabwela.”
Nawakwi said as a result of President Banda’s conduct, Kabwela was now known world over.
“So if you ask me about how the President should be feeling, I think that he must be proud that he made Chansa Kabwela a hero to the extent that we are now recognised. I am sure that when you google, it will be Zambia, Chansa Kabwela,” she said.
Nawakwi said Kabwela tried to save a woman who needed special attention when the government was not paying any.
“So that award is an award to the Zambian suffering woman in labour, without a bed, an award to a child who is being born on the floor. It is an award to the women of Zambia who are carrying placentas in the buckets,” Nawakwi said. “But more so it is an indictment on the health system of this Republic to the fact that the President did recognise that there is a problem to the extent that he wanted to hide it.”
Kabwela recently scooped the two awards in the national media freedom prize for this year.
And Nawakwi said Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga would be to blame if she were killed because of his duplicity and double-standard approach towards ensuring justice in the nation.
Nawakwi condemned Mchenga’s duplicity on the handling of the justice system in the country. She said some cases received express attention while others took long.
Nawakwi said it was surprising that Mchenga usually took long to direct the prosecution of cases involving those in the ruling party while directives were express when it came to those critical of government.
She expressed surprise that MMD Solwezi-Central member of parliament Watson Lumba’s case was now in court but Mchenga was still sitting on her case where the MMD cadres threatened to gang-rape her.
“That is total duplicity and complicity on the part of Mchenga. We have gone to school, we respect certain professionals.
Those who have joined careers we want to give them opportunity to exploit their potential, but he has forgotten that he is a lawyer, and should he be out of that office, where will he work?” Nawakwi asked.
“We are all expressing misgivings. The day I am murdered, Mchenga will be squarely responsible…but say to Kabwela well done, and we should send a congratulatory card to the President for making us known on the map.”
Nawakwi said the MMD were trying desperately to have the seats they lost in North Western Province vacant so that they could go back for by-elections.
“But when you call the ambulance in the night, they say they have no fuel…but people are interested in by-elections more than their own people,” said Nawakwi.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, CHANSA KABWELA, DEATH THREATS, EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA, WOMEN
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Rupiah, those surrounding him have no capacity to reason – Nawakwi
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 27 Mar. 2010, 04:01 CAT
RUPIAH Banda and those surrounding him have no capacity to reason, opposition FDD president Edith Nawakwi charged yesterday.
And Nawakwi charged that President Banda and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga are running what she described as an ‘animal farm’ where those close to the President were being protected from prosecution, while those on the opposite side were denied justice.
Reacting to a challenge from the MMD for her to explain whether she accompanied President Banda to the African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia last year because of allowances, Nawakwi said it was sad that instead of listening to her advice for President Banda to stop travelling aimlessly, those in MMD chose to attack her.
She said President Banda and those surrounding him kept on making glaring mistakes because of the inability to listen to advice from the citizens.
“You don't have the people with the capacity to listen. Rupiah and those surrounding him have no capacity to reason. On my advice on the travels and the one where women are carrying buckets to the hospitals, they would have just said 'yes, we have this problem, and this is how we hope to address it'. But the arguments from MMD shows you that there is no capacity to reason,” Nawakwi said. “I think basically this government is full of people who don't listen, and they want to bury their heads like the ostriches.”
Nawakwi said President Banda had not bothered to even visit the flood victims, save for the public relations trip he took when he returned from his more than 10 days' visit of China.
“If Rupiah and his people want to turn themselves into a despotic government, they only have themselves to blame, which they have done. You know this is the making of despots. If people don't listen, then you know they are doomed to failure. When we advise them that women are carrying buckets to the maternity ward, they say that is politics,” Nawakwi said.
“Has Rupiah Banda, since he came back, even gone to see what is happening at UTH? According to information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha, people are there for a short time and they are dispatched to wards. Unfortunately, people are there for more than 48 hours, sleeping on the floor. And you members of the press are accomplices, you don't show people pictures.”
Nawakwi said on average, President Banda had travelled more since he was elected than Dr Kenneth Kaunda did in his 27-year rule.
“How can you go to a busy country like China and spend 10 days? No wonder when they have nothing to do with you, they send you down a river on a boat, with just an ambassador escorting you because you stayed their generosity,” she said.
On assertions that she should explain if she accompanied President Banda to Ethiopia because of allowances, Nawakwi said she asked if she could buy her own ticket but those in government refused. She said besides that, she was a tax payer and an employer who could manage to buy her own tickets.
“In fact, what I discovered there is shocking. Zambia had the largest delegation of just hang-arounds. The delegation from State House itself is larger than the people who are going to do decent work there,” Nawakwi said.
And Nawakwi charged that Mchenga was still sitting on her case.
She said it was surprising that while it took Mchenga only a few days to issue a go-ahead over the prosecutions of Fr Frank Bwalya, George Mpombo, Mwenya Musenge, Chishimba Kambwili, Mumbi Phiri and Jean Kapata, her case had not been approved for prosecution up to now.
“In fact, I saw that Fr Bwalya was arrested on a Friday and on Monday he was in court, and by Sunday Rupiah Banda was commenting and expressing his disquiet and unhappiness about the conduct of one Fr Bwalya,” Nawakwi said.
“And yet this is the same person, in the same breath who stands up and condons assault and injury to a leader. This is the same person who is wining and dining with the likes of Chris Chalwe.”
Nawakwi said Mchenga had not issued instructions for the prosecution of MMD Lusaka Province youth chairperson Chris Chalwe because President Banda was against the same prosecution.
“Rupiah Banda is running an equivalent of animal farm. So the matter before the DPP is supposed to be expedited, but surprisingly again, they think it will die a natural death. And Rupiah Banda is the one who is sitting on it.
Mchenga knows that under this system of patronage, if he does go against his boss, the next day he will be out of office,” said Nawakwi.
Labels: CHALWE MCHENGA, EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA
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