LAZ should continue standing for what is just - Mwenye
By Bright Mukwasa
Sat 31 Dec. 2011, 13:58 CAT
Mwenye yesterday resigned as Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president following his appointment as Solicitor General. Mwenye said he decided to relinquish his position to avoid compromising the independence of LAZ.
"Although I have anxiously perused the law and have found no provision that obliges one to resign this position as LAZ president when appointed to public office, I have nonetheless decided to resign my position as LAZ president with immediate effect," Mwenye stated in a letter dated December 29th, 2011 addressed to LAZ honorary secretary Paulman Chungu.
"This is so because staying as LAZ president would conflict with my long held belief in the independence of LAZ. Although there are barely four months before the annual general meeting, I am persuaded that the avoidance of even the appearance of a conflict of interest between the office of LAZ president and that of Solicitor General necessitates the decision that I have made."
Mwenye praised the council of LAZ for the resilience shown in the most challenging times.
He said he was grateful to the general membership of LAZ for the immense support accorded to him in his election and also for the rare opportunity of being the only second LAZ president, after prominent Lusaka lawyer Willa Mung'omba, to have been at the helm of the association during the change of government from one political party to another.
Mwenye urged LAZ to continue standing for what was just according to the objectives of the Association as contained in section four of the Law Association of Zambia Act chapter 31 of the Laws of Zambia.
He hoped LAZ would continue on the projects and the undertakings such as the implementation of the multi-million dollar facelift of the secretariat approved by the council and the resolution to focus on the fight against corruption, judicial reforms and the constitution-making process.
Mwenye was sworn in as Solicitor General on Thursday following his appointment by President Michael Sata and subsequent overwhelming approval by Parliament.
Labels: LAZ, MUSA MWENYE, SOLLICITOR GENERAL
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Guardian of our interests
Written by Editor
The office of Attorney General and that of Solicitor General need to be defended from encroachment even under the cool salons of political manipulation. The duties and powers of these offices are well spelt out in Article 55 of our country’s Constitution.
The Minister of Justice, in this country, does not exercise the functions of the Attorney General. And Article 54 (7) is often a subject of abuse by those who want or seek to encroach on the powers of the Attorney General.
This Article makes it very clear that “in the exercise of the power to give directions to the Director of Public Prosecutions conferred by clause 7 of Article 56, the Attorney General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority”. But it’s very clear that sometimes George Kunda, the Minister of Justice and Vice-President of the Republic, thinks he is the boss and can direct such matters. Everyone saw the role George tried to play in Dora Siliya’s RP Capital Partners Limited deal.
The Attorney General is not their personal lawyer. The role of the Attorney General is to serve as Zambia’s lawyer, in civil as well as criminal matters. He is not a lawyer for Rupiah Banda, George and their friends. He is our lawyer, a lawyer for all the Zambian people in their complexities and diversities. The Attorney General is the guardian of the public interest. And in his role as the guardian of the public interest, he is required to act independently and in a quasi-judicial capacity, representing the nation at large.
The Attorney General is entrusted with protecting the civil rights of citizens; he is not the president’s counsel; Rupiah has a counsel for that. The Attorney General is there for every one of us, MMD, PF, UPND, rich, poor, urban dweller, rural dweller, worker, peasant, businessman and so on and so forth and no matter who you are.
For us the Attorney General is a very important person; this is somebody who represents all of us, not just there to represent government policy. For this reason, we don’t need an Attorney General who is totally subservient to the president, to the political and business interests of those in government. Yes, the Attorney General has a duty to help institute the policy agenda of Rupiah’s cabinet. But the line should be drawn between having a like-minded Attorney General help institute such policy agenda and having an Attorney General who is completely subservient to the personal political and business interests of Rupiah and his friends. Of course, we want the Attorney General to help those in power to perform their duties with honour and integrity and to accordingly be in line with their policy making. And this may encompass decisions about how to set priorities, fashion new initiatives and interpret the Constitution and the country’s laws.
This doesn’t mean that our Attorney General should simply be the handmaiden of presidential policy. Ideally, the Attorney General should have the character and backbone to give the president and his cabinet frank advice, independently arrived at, when the president and his ministers are considering overstepping the bounds of what is allowed by our laws. And similarly, the Office of the Solicitor General also has a special role to play in maintaining a degree of continuity in the law regardless of changes in government.
Overall, however, it is and should be the Attorney General’s job to serve the people of Zambia, by helping the president and his cabinet abide by the rule of law.
What Zambians most assuredly do not want is an Attorney General who fails to distinguish between implementing policies and playing politics or involving himself in the dirty schemes of those in government. The Attorney General has no business harnessing his chambers to the electoral and other political and business interests of either the president or the ruling MMD.
Clearly, the Attorney General, as chief law officer, has a special responsibility to be the guardian of that most elusive concept – the rule of law. The rule of law is a well established legal principle, but hard to easily define. It is the rule of law that protects individuals, and society as a whole, from arbitrary measures and safeguards personal liberties.
The Attorney General has a special role to play in advising Cabinet to ensure the rule of law is maintained and that Cabinet actions are legally and constitutionally valid.
In providing such advice, it is important to keep in mind that the Attorney General’s legal advice or constitutional advice should not be disregarded. And Article 54(3) makes it very clear that “…an agreement, contract, treaty, convention or document by whatever name called, to which government is a party or in respect of which the government has an interest, shall not be concluded without the legal advice of the Attorney General, except in such cases and subject to such conditions as Parliament may by law prescribe”.
Things have been put this way in our Constitution, the Attorney General has been given this responsibility to ensure that the public interest is well and independently represented.
But there is a tendency in this country to think that simply because the law provides that so-and-so shall be appointed by the president and so-and-so shall be removed by the president, then it means that their legal and constitutional duties are subordinated to that appointing and disappointing authority.
It doesn’t mean that if one is appointed by the president to a constitutional or public office in this country, then he is a servant of the president and should do as the appointing authority pleases. The Attorney General, although appointed by the president and can be removed by him, is not a servant of the president, he is not his personal lawyer.
Clearly, the constitutional and legal commitments of the Attorney General take precedence over loyalty to the appointing authority. Like other public officers, the Attorney General doesn’t work for Rupiah, he works for the people.
There is need for constitutional office holders and other public servants to take their duties seriously and put the interests of the people they are appointed to serve above the personal interests, political, business or otherwise, of the appointing authorities. They don’t work for the appointing authorities, they work for the people. But there is always this fear of being removed for not co-operating with those who appointed them when they want to do wrong things, when they want to abuse their offices and break the law. This is what is killing this country – this complicity in the wrongdoings of the appointing authorities.
And this is what makes the conduct of Attorney General Mumba Malila and Solicitor General Dominic Sichinga over the Dora issue exemplary. If every public officer conducted themselves in that manner, it will be very easy for this country to root out corruption and make proper use of every kwacha of taxpayers’ money.
For this reason, we highly welcome the clear position taken by the Law Association of Zambia on this issue. And as pointed out by the Law Association of Zambia president Stephen Lungu, they have a statutory duty to defend the Constitution and seek the advancement of the rule of law and the rights and liberties of all our people. Again, if they also work with the same spirit that has been demonstrated by Malila and Sichinga, the prospects for our country will brighten. It is important to stand up against wrongdoing, to oppose it, challenge it and stop it. Ignoring wrongdoing when one has a duty to challenge it, to stop it is complicity in it.
Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, SOLLICITOR GENERAL
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Attorney General, Solicitor General should enjoy independence in their duties – LAZ
Written by George Chellah
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:06:19 PM
LAW Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu yesterday stated that the Attorney General and Solicitor General should enjoy independence in the execution of their duties.
And Lungu has stated that LAZ would hold fast and protect all its members, including the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the execution of their professional duties.
Giving the association's position on President Rupiah Banda's reaction to the judge Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal findings on former communications and transport minister Dora Siliya, Lungu stated that there had been intense and massive debate on the matter.
In a statement released to the media under heading ‘PRESIDENT BANDA REACTS TO THE TRIBUNAL FINDINGS’ dated April 21, 2009 it was stated as follows; “...His Excellency the President Mr Rupiah Banda on Tuesday released his initial reactions to the findings of the tribunal constituted to investigate the various allegations against Honourable Ms Dora Siliya MP, Minister of Communications and Transport," Lungu stated. "The President made the following observations and decisions; 'President Banda noted that the tribunal did find as a fact that Honourable Siliya, MP was somewhat misled by the confusion in the Attorney General's chambers. It is, therefore, the President's decision to re-organise the Attorney General's chambers in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future.' Following the issuance of this statement, there has been intense and massive debate on the issue and the Law Association of Zambia at the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 25th of April mandated its council to state its position on the matter."
Lungu further stated that it appeared that the bone of contention in most if not all debates seemed to be the President's decision to re-organise the Attorney General's office to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future.
"The Law Association of Zambia recognizing its mandate to uphold the Constitution and other laws subsidiary thereto, and its role to seek the advancement of the rule of law and rights and liberties of individuals and being mindful of its further mandate to further the development of the law as an instrument of social justice, to co-operate with representative bodies of other professions and institutions, holds the following view; that it would not be prudent to comment on the issue without analyzing the meaning of the above phrase and in the context it was used," Lungu stated. "The association came up with two observations in interpreting the term 're-organisation', removal of office holders or a restructuring of the internal systems. While acknowledging the powers vested in the Republican President in the Constitution to appoint and remove persons to the offices of the Attorney General and Solicitor General, the association is of the view that these are constitutional offices with constitutional duties whose holders should enjoy independence in the execution of their duties.
"The association further endorses the principles on the role of lawyers as adopted by the Eighth United Nations congress in Havana Cuba in 1990 that, governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference and that lawyers shall not suffer or be threatened with, prevention or administrative economic or other sanction for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics."
Lungu stated that LAZ would therefore hold fast and protect all its members including the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the execution of their professional duties.
Recently, President Banda accused the Attorney General's chambers of having misled Siliya and warned that he would reorganise the chambers to avoid the recurrence of the confusion.
In a statement issued in Lusaka by President Banda's then chief analyst for press and public relations Dickson Jere following Siliya's resignation from her ministerial position, the head of state claimed that Siliya was misled in her signing of the Memorandum of Understand (MoU) with RP Capital Partners Limited of Cayman Islands.
"President Banda noted that the tribunal did find as a fact that Honourable Siliya MP was somewhat misled by the confusion in the Attorney General's chambers. It is, therefore the President's decision to reorganise the Attorney General's chambers in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future," stated Jere.
Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, LAZ, SOLLICITOR GENERAL, STEPHEN LUNGU
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Attorney General, Solicitor General should enjoy independence - LAZ
Written by George Chellah
Monday, May 11, 2009 11:38:51 PM
LAW Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu on Monday stated that the Attorney General and Solicitor General should enjoy independence in the execution of their duties.
And Lungu has stated that LAZ would hold fast and protect, all its members including the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the execution of their professional duties.
Giving the association's position on President Rupiah Banda's reaction to the judge Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal findings on former communications minister Dora Siliya, Lungu stated that there has been intense and massive debate on the matter.
"In a statement released to the media under heading PRESIDENT BANDA REACTS TO THE TRIBUNAL FINDINGS dated April 21, 2009 it was stated as follows; '...His Excellency the President Mr. Rupiah Banda on Tuesday released his initial reactions to the findings of the tribunal constituted to investigate the various allegations against Honourable Ms. Dora Siliya MP, Minister of Communications and Transport." Lungu stated. "The President made the following observations and decisions; 'President Banda noted that the tribunal did find as a fact that Honourable Siliya, MP was somewhat misled by the confusion in the Attorney General's chambers. It is, therefore, the President's decision to re-organise the Attorney General's chambers in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future.'
"Following the issuance of this statement there has been intense and massive debate on the issue and the Law Association of Zambia at the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 25th of April mandated its council to state its position on the matter."
Lungu further stated that: "The bone of contention it appears in most, if not all debates on the matter has been the following: '...the President's decision to re-organise the Attorney General's chambers in a bid to prevent the reoccurrence of the same confusion in future."
Lungu interpreted and stated the association's view on the issue.
"The Law Association of Zambia recognizing its mandate to uphold the constitution and other laws subsidiary thereto, and its role to seek the advancement of the rule of law and rights and liberties of individuals and being mindful of its further mandate to further the development of the law as an instrument of social justice, to co-operate with representative bodies of other professions and institutions, holds the following view; that it would not be prudent to comment on the issue without analyzing the meaning of the above phrase and in the context it was used," Lungu stated. "The association came up with two observations in interpreting the term 're-organisation', removal of office holders or a restructuring of the internal systems. While acknowledging the powers vested in the Republican President in the constitution to appoint and remove persons to the offices of the Attorney General and Solicitor General, the association is of the view that these are constitutional offices with constitutional duties whose holders should enjoy independence in the execution of their duties.
"The association further endorses the principles on the role of lawyers as adopted by the Eighth United Nations congress in Havana Cuba in 1990 that, governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference and that lawyers shall not suffer or be threatened with, prevention or administrative economic or other sanction for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics."
Lungu stated that LAZ would therefore hold fast and protect all its members including the Attorney General and Solicitor General in the execution of their professional duties.
Labels: ATTORNEY GENERAL, LAZ, SOLLICITOR GENERAL, STEPHEN LUNGU
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