President Rupiah Banda has with immediate effect remitted the prison sentence of Lusaka Lawyer Nsunka Sambo and his client Victor Chilekwa who were jailed for three years for contempt of court by the Supreme Court.
Special Assistance to the President for Press and Public Relations Dickson Jere said in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today that the remittance is with immediate effect.
And President Banda said he has decided to remit the remainder of the sentence imposed on Sambo and Chilekwa following their request for him as President to exercise his constitutional power of prerogative of mercy.
The President has since ordered the release of the duo from custody at Lusaka Central Prison where they were serving their prison sentence.
He said the release is on the condition that the duo does not commit a similar offence up to the period of their respective date when they were to complete the sentence.
President Banda has remitted the sentence imposed on the two convicts in exercise of the powers vested in him as head of state under article 59 (d) of the constitution of Zambia.
Sambo and Chilekwa were jailed for three years by the Supreme Court on March 30 this year for writing insulting letters to the bench after they lost a court appeal in a matter between Masiye Motel Limited and Rescue shoulders and Estate Agency Limited.
ZANIS
Thank you Sir!
Mwaashuka bakapala!
H.E President Rupiah B. Banda head of state and Commander in-Chief of the Zambian Armed Services has constitutional powers to exercise “Prerogative of Mercy”. It is therefore traditional for a President to exercise those powers on joyous occasions like Christmas or at the end of his term, but it is usually viewed by the public, and monitored by various armchair critics as interest groups, to determine whether there is an agenda. Of course, it is widely known that H.E President Banda is gifted with brains and has the capacity to remember most things, and can pick one’s name from a crowd, even if that encounter was ten years ago besides the briefyings on good reformed and deserving emandees he receives.
The names that benefit from Presidential act of pardon could generate controversies and interest for some armchair critics with self inflated importance who think H.E need to act at their discretion but such is borderline wishful thinking. Prerogative of mercy is normal and common fare in other jurisdictions. In the US, which is where nascent democracies normally look up to, Presidential pardons have always generated interest and sometimes, controversies.
Of course, clemencies only underscore the larger problem – the systemic injustice caused by mandatory minimum sentences that fill the prisons with low-level offenders in the first place. The option of minor offenders being held up in prisons should immediately be reviewed by a people’s Government of RB administration in favor of supervised work or executive pardons in reforms. It is one provision that if not fully enshrined in our criminal justice system education, i recommend it to the Banda administration to consider in best national interest.
Sebana wiukute!! pa nsaka tapabula ichiwelewele
who needs a tissue when you have people ready to wipe your bum in a desperate bid to shamelessly feed their families
#3 Senior Citizen, your first two paragraph sound like you are on the defensive when no one is attacking you. They sound to me as though you and your government are guilty of something and you are the gun employed to defend the deeds of this pardon. No one, so far, is arguing with what the president has done.
Referring to your last paragraph (5), i agree with you, and i would like to add on that THE MMD govt should build more prisons, and also introduce community service sentences for low level offenders. Juvenile detention centers should also be built in order to stop the vice of mixing 14 year old offenders with hardcore criminals. Lets leave the the major prisons for serious offenders like FTJ, Mabenga, and most of the MMD criminals.
#7 contd. What kind of habits do we expect a 16 yr old to have when he/she leaves prison if they shared a cell with criminals like FTJ, Gladys Nyirongo and the looser former generals in Chilubas govt, all MMD sympathizers?
Prisons should be left to international money launderers like Sata.
I like RB.
I hope he will use his contititutional power to clean up prisons. Many of those guys in prisons are not criminals they are just destitutes, you find alot of chicken and goat thiefs in Zambian jails, offences which just deserve punishment like cleaning or slashing along road sides. How can you jail someone just for insulting the judges, who are they not to be insulted?
The guilty are afraid. The duo were telling the truth. RB’s Government is riddled with corrupt Judges and RB knows it. He is doing all this to show he is a compassionate president when in actual fact it is stage managed. Just like what happened to that chap who insulted him in the bar on the coppernbelt. RB is a skimmer of a president. He thinks us Zambians are I D I O T S and cant see what is going on.
when is sata going to be jailed . . . .
#3 – 5 Senior Citizen, Your rhetoric is so boring and somewhat irritating. You urgently need some self-emancipation.
Senior Citizen is very childish and has a brain like that of a crocodile. He sings praises at every MMD news. I hate it when he says something on anything because he does not speak sense at all
Senior Citizen speaks through his A.S.S! We all agree that RB has done something nice but we should not get far up his A.S.S like this Senior fu.cking Citizen!
I am no lawyer, but is it “remit” or “commute”? guide me, please learned lawyers.
#1, Unworried Bachelor, touche! Excellently put dear bro! There has to be a limit how far one is willing to scratch their way up their bosses’ a..s.s before they suffocate themselves without getting the reward or recognition they seek, such as , clearly in the case of Senior Citizen and his like-minded lupiya a-lickers!
In regard to 16 above, “remit” is entirely correct, Yankee Doodle, as in legal parlance, it can also mean “forgive”. have a nice day.
Leagle Eagle @ 18, always appreciate sensible advice. Much obliged. You nhave a great weekend too bro or sis.
Your Ecellence, I salute you and God bless you.Viva MMD!
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