Retired magistrate comes to Kambwili's defence
By Mwila Ntambi in Kitwe
Wed 01 Feb. 2012, 13:59 CAT
ZAMBIA went ‘mad' and therefore needs ‘mad' people to turn it around, according to a Kitwe-based retired magistrate Chinyemba Kambanja. And Kambanja has urged the government to ensure that labour laws are not adhered to by foreigners only but also local investors including the government itself. In an interview, Kambanja commended labour minister Chishimba Kambwili for his efforts to ensure that Zambian labour laws are enforced and adhered to.
"Many a time we have pieces of legislation that are just lying around but the previous government had not bothered to implement them. Remember that if the law is not invoked, it will be deemed to be dead and people will not recognise it," Kambanja said.
He added that it was the government's responsibility to ensure that laws were implemented and that Kambwili had taken a step in the right direction. On public concerns that Kambwili lacks diplomacy in handling labour issues, Kambanja said treating people with kid gloves would not change anything.
"Well, you see I think there's nothing diplomatic about this thing you know. If I may use this word loosely…Zambia went ‘mad' and we need ‘mad' people to turn it around. I am using the word mad in inverted commas not that he's mad, no! But we need people who are pragmatic. Treating people with tender gloves will not work and that is exactly what is happening," said Kambanja.
He added that even if it were a Zambian who invested in another country, they would be required to fully comply with the labour laws in that particular country.
He said there was nothing wrong in asking foreign investors to adhere to the Zambian labour laws.
And Kambanja implored Kambwili not to just concentrate on visiting work-places run by foreigners but also those operated by Zambians.
He observed that most Zambians especially those working in private schools were subjected to poor conditions of service and did not even have security of tenure.
Kambanja also advised the government to take a leading role in ensuring that its own employees were properly remunerated.
Labels: CHINYEMBA KAMBANJA, CHISHIMBA KAMBWILI, LABOUR
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Retired magistrate warns against removing abuse of office clause
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Sun 07 Nov. 2010, 03:59 CAT
KITWE-based retired magistrate Kambanja Chinyemba has observed that the removal of the abuse of office offence from the revised ACC Act will breed anarchy and open a Pandora's box for all sorts of corruption.
And Chinyemba said only individuals involved in shoddy deals can be against the abuse of office offence because they regard it as a stumbling block since they do not want to explain how they acquire their wealth.
In an interview in Kitwe, Chinyemba observed that the abuse of office law had been there for a long time and that courts had been applying it and securing both convictions and acquittals.
He said arguments that the law in question was being repealed because it put the burden of proof on the accused person to explain how they amassed their wealth had no merit because there were many other statutes that required accused persons to explain to the courts how they found themselves in a given situation.
“Notably, section 319 (a) of the Penal Code Cap 87 - being in possession of property suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained - under this section, the burden of proof shifts to the accused person to explain as to how he or she came to be in possession of such property,” he said.
“Further, section 305 (c) of the Penal Code talks about having possession by night without lawful excuse of house breaking implements or explosives. This again places the burden on the accused after the prosecution has proved possession of the said items and the burden shifts to the accused to explain how he came to be in possession.”
Chinyemba also cited section 51 of the immigration and deportation Act of 2010 which places the burden on the immigrant to prove that he or she was in the country lawfully by way of producing documentation.
“With these few sections and many others, I find it strange that they should only pick on the ACC Act as being archaic. If their removal of section 37 is genuine, then they should go through all statutes and remove those which place the burden on the accused person,” he added.
Chinyemba said there was nothing wrong to ask a public officer to explain how they acquired their wealth.
Chinyemba urged the government through the Ministry of Justice to revise archaic laws, especially the precedence forms in the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) that are outdated, instead of targeting good laws that deter people from committing crimes.
Labels: ACC, CHINYEMBA KAMBANJA, CORRUPTION
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UPND Nkana chair questions under-18 voter registration
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Tue 29 June 2010, 04:30 CAT
UPND Nkana Constituency chairman Chinyemba Kambanja has observed that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ)’s announcement that even people who will be 18 years by July 2011 can register as voters now is in contravention of the law.
And Kambanja said sentiments by ECZ chairperson Justice Florence Mumba that political parties are not doing enough to sensitise people on the ongoing voter registration exercise are unfair.
In a walk-in interview at the Post Newspapers office in Kitwe yesterday, Kambanja said it was misleading for the ECZ to suggest that even people that would turn 18 years by July 2011 could register as voters now because the law clearly stipulated who qualified to register as a voter.
“Their Act, the electoral Act number 12 of 2006 under section five clearly spells out the qualifications for one to register as a voter,” he said. “It stipulates in black and white that one has to be 18 or above in order to register as a voter. There is nowhere it says one can register in anticipation that they will be 18 years old.”
Section five of the electoral Act under qualification for registration as a voter reads: ‘(i) subject to provisions of section seven, every person shall be qualified for registration as a voter in direct elections - (a) if he or she is a citizen of Zambia, (b) has attained the age of 18 years, (c) is in possession of a green National Registration Card.'
Kambanja urged the ECZ to target the right people in the voter registration exercise because any compromise could lead to wrongdoing.
“This is how wrong things start and if we are not careful, we might extend the voter registration to non-Zambians on grounds that they have lived in Zambia for many years even when the law does not allow,” he said.
“We have a by-law for example, which states that no person under the age of 18 can enter a bar or a drinking place, so one cannot say that I will enter a bar since I will be 18 in the next two months.”
Kambanja said if there was any other law in the Act that allowed people below 18 years to register, then that part or section of the law was in dire contradiction with the principle electoral Act and should be considered null and void.
Labels: CHINYEMBA KAMBANJA, FLORENCE MUMBA, UPND
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