HERITAGE
Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda has accused President Sata of
acting in bad faith over Justice Chibesakunda’s continued stay as acting
Chief Justice.
Find
below Brig. Gen. Miyanda’s statement:
STATEMENT: THE PRESIDENT MUST REVERSE
THE APPOINTMENT OF AN ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE FORTHWITH!
[By Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda
– 10th September 2013]
The continued acting of Madam Justice
Chibesakunda as Chief Justice lacks integrity and obviously there is bad faith
on the part of the President, aided by the PF Minister of Justice. But while we
blame the President for the omission, Zambians may begin to ask whether the
Honourable Acting Chief Justice is not a willing accomplice!
Events immediately preceding the
postponement of nominations for the three constituencies involving Honourable
Mwale, Siliya and Sililo point to questionable conduct by the Minister of
Justice Hon Wynter Kabimba, which require a truthful answer or answers by the
Minister. Barely hours after he threatened to “engage the court” the Judiciary
Public Relations Officer made that infamous statement that has been disowned by
the Attorney General. This was immediately followed by the Acting
Registrar’sstatement, also disowned. As indicated in a previous statement,
Minister Kabimba should be cross examined on oath to establish what process he
initiated and whom he had audience with at the “court”. And what about the
Solicitor General’s Opinion rendered to the PF Secretary General? Unless
and until he does so, speculations will continue that it was the Acting Chief
Justice he consulted.
The statement a few days ago that
Madam Chibesakunda herself attended to and allowed the application by the
Attorney General has not been repudiated; if it is true it is worrisome for one
would ordinarily NOT expect the Chief Justice to hear a single judge
application when there are other junior Supreme court judges. In this instance
the process requires fairness and transparency. The axiom that “justice must
not only be done but must be seen to be done” is very much at play here.
Currently there is a pending contempt case involving MMD President Dr
Nevers Mumba in which he was accused of making certain statements against Madam
Chibesakunda. Although she is not on the panel hearing the case, the waters are
still muddy.Further two of the three successful petitioners at High Court level
are MMD MPs who also were successful in their Judicial Review application. Thenthere
is the questionable conduct of the Minister of Justice, who has yet to tell the
truth about whom he spoke with immediately before the lightning speed ruling
emanating from the “court”. And now Madam Chibesakunda has herself granted the
appeal and stopped the nominations of Siliya et al. Who or what is driving this
hitherto unseen enthusiasm in a case? Surely the public require answers even
before the hearing of the case because these are NOT empty speculations. The
circumstances are at par with the Nixon tapes; there is a smoking gun and
someone is really worried that the gun may be found. This Chief Justice saga
will go down in Zambian judicial history as the scandal of the year!
It is not funny to question the
highest court in the land; we must put an end to these unpleasant developments
which continue further to erode public confidence in the judiciary. Rights of
citizens must not only be protected and defended but must be assured by an
independent, impartial and untainted judiciary and court system. The conduct of
the Minister of Justice does not bring forth such confidence.Minister Kabimba
has failed to justify the continued acting appointment of Madam Chibesakunda or
make a convincing case of the apparent abolishment of the office of substantive
Deputy Chief Justice, when there is a substantive holder of the position in the
name of Madam Justice Irene Mambilima (of this later).
Since the Acting Chief Justice will
not step down on her own, the only honourable step for her to take is to recuse
herself from the case involving the three Honourable MPs namely Mwale, Siliya
and Sililo.
We demand and continue to call upon
the President tocorrect this self-created judicial scandal of the year
forthwith by submitting another name to the National Assembly.
GODFREY MIYANDA,
BRIGADIER GENERAL,
HERITAGE PARTY
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