By Chilekwa M. Mumba
When one attempts to give a personal assessment on the Judiciary world-over, one has to exercise restraint as well as political correctness in the choice of words. The Judiciary is considered “sacred” even more so amongst commonwealth countries, when compared to the other arms of government and often finds itself sheltered from sharp criticism, even when warranted. It therefore requires quite a mound of blunders for the distinguished members of the Judiciary to find themselves in the hail-storm of verbal assault our Zambian Judiciary today finds itself in.
The year 2009 has brought us a rare spectacle of “A Judiciary Scorned”. The “Big Guns” in General Ronnie Shikapwasha have come out in defense of our Judiciary; and President Rupiah Banda has finally put to use the insidious lip-service usually attained as a “side skill” from spending one too many decades in Zambian politics. The President has stealthily managed to defend the dubious decisions of our Judiciary by stressing that Zambia has an independent Judiciary, which looks good verbatim, but actually has grave effects as seen by the contempt in which most Zambians now hold the Judiciary.
Now to put my two ngwee in, the Zambian Judiciary has no doubt made decisions this year which has made it highly questionable. The flak it has received from most Zambian quarters is certainly well deserved. The Judiciary needs to stop hiding in this protective veil advanced by politicians, as it is very detrimental to the basic and important role it plays in society. It is all well and good for the Judiciary to be respected, but this respect should be earned and not demanded.[quote]
There seems to be quite a lot of dysfunctional versions of justice which are currently being meted out by our distinguished members of the judicial system. I do not just refer to the cases with “political labels”, but across the board. We hear of cases where juveniles receive long sentences not commensurate with the crime committed. Without making specific reference to any one current pending case in court, as LT and this author may be held in contempt (though I simply cannot resist the twisted but true saying that “sometimes laws cause crimes”…I digress), the Judiciary has been muddled with self-chastising through the conflicting judgments at the different court levels as its hierarchy demands. The Dora Siliya case being the foremost we have seen.
In conclusion, lest our distinguished LT bloggers attack me for criticizing our esteemed Judiciary, it is important that we appreciate that the Judiciary works under a lot of political pressure. It is a fact that the notion of the existence of separation of powers amongst the three branches of government in Zambia is at best minimal, and at worst imaginary. Nonetheless, the Judiciary should perform a self-evaluation on the decisions made thus far into this year to appreciate why the respect for this “sacred” institution is fast waning. The effects of a scorned judiciary have far-reaching and negative consequences on the reputation of any self-respecting nation. Even worse is the internal societal impact which emanates from having an institution such as the Judiciary [charged with dispensing justice], demeaning its noble calling with dubious and controversial decisions. This unwanted stain of scorn should be removed from the fabric of our nation. In the language of the courts, I rest my case.
Here today Sunday, September 13, 2009, 6:52 Chilekwa M. Mumba you have wittingly written and posted your article “A Judiciary Scorned”. It is not a criticising but contemptuous article of our Court system under.
Herein I quote from your article lines of analysis whether this is criticism or clear cut contempt:
“The President has stealthily managed to defend the dubious decisions of our Judiciary” Quote
“The Zambian Judiciary has no doubt made decisions this year which has made it highly questionable” Quote.
“With dubious and controversial decisions” Quote.
“There seems to be quite a lot of dysfunctional versions of justice which are currently being meted out by our distinguished members of the judicial system” Quote.
Advocate, let not the judiciary hide behind contempt fimo fimo whenever they fumble. One does not need to be a lawyer to realise that justice for certain categories of people is not seen to be done. Let them redeem themselves before we start takig things in our own hands or resort to instant justice approaches…….
It is true that the Zambian judiciary is rotten and it will take some years to reinstore it. Sure, i for one, i can not have guts to drag anyone to court for fear of the diminshing standards.
Chilekwa, may the Lord bless you and protect you for writing this article. You have spoken for the many voiceless people in Zambia. God bless you and may he bless Zambia.
In the current order of things where appeals are being denied, we need to brainstorm how to mete out justice to ”obvious” offenders. May we need to find a way to impeach judges and magistrates…?? How about setting up a tribunal, putting them on defense etc…
Nice one chilekwa, you are the guys we nid in this society
Chilekwa, no sane LT Blogger will see your view differently, your analysis is correct, The Zambian Judiciary is full of Sh****t. Rupiah is actually making the Judiciary look foolish by claiming it operates freely, what nonsense!!!
Congratulations for a well thought out article.
There is no need to be afraid to talk about a corrupt Judiciary system. The past few months have shown us that our judiciary has been compromised by irresponsible politicians with very selfish agenda. It is our duty to call a spade a spade, thanks to people like you Chilekwa
#1 and your MMD, here is what I have to say and you can come and get me for contempt whatever. You know where am. Your judiciary is shamefull and corrupt and u s e l e s s and headed by somebody who should have retired but kept in that position by tribalism perpetuated by RB. So Damn the Zambia Judiciary, Damn the MMD, Damn the Government, Damn RB and you who support MMD, Damn you too. I was going to use the F word in place of Damn, but LT has censored my post, so I guess Damn LT as well.
Otherwise great article Chilekwa Mumba. Thanks for standing up for us who don’t have a voice.
Man …you are very correct. The Zambian judiciary has now become useless. I think the judiciary of animals in the bush is better than that of Zambia. In Zambia, one does not need to study law to become a judge..this means the law schools in Zambia are not meant for the judges there. If they were meant for them, our judges could not be making these silly judgements we are witnessing in Zambia. I think a person from the street can do better than the present judges of Zambia. SHAME ON THEM ALL.
Reading between the lines, this is a thought of well informed , concerned but disgusted citizen with the rotten judicial system…..Your concern is very true.
The Zambian Courts are corrupt , selective and useless.
Look at Xavier Chungu Suspended sentence …that criminal needs to stay behind jail 4 evr.That judgement need to be challenged.
Why hire a lawyer if you can buy the judge?
I only observe nowadays..
Goodmorning Mother Zambia
Shani Jamaco? Iwe, kuposa pofye ka comment mudala wandi…it’s only when the righteous keep silent that the wicked prevail.
Back to the lecture by Chilekwa: we all know that the scale of justice in Zambia is too slant – there’s something seriously wrong with the whole stattutory instrument of state prosecution. Seperation of powers is strictly on paper since the state often turns out to be the judiciary itself.
This is a a well written article. What can I say? I think #9 has stolen my words!
Chilekwa, you hit the nail pali fimo fimo.However, try to break down you English so that most of us Grade 7’s can understand.Good article in all senses.
There is only one man who has the judiciary in his pockets and when he will be kicked out of office he will be brought to account.
Boring story. I will keep cleang my Toyota Yaris. Thanks
Some of the judgements have left a lot to be desired. Some poor fellow was jailed 16 yrs for failing to repay K150pin. And in the Chliubas’ cases, the wife was found gulity for using stolen funds while the alleged perpetrator walked. We should be allowed to freely discuss these issues once such ridiculous judgements have been passed. Recently, a US judge embarrassed himself when he ruled that innocence was no excuse to avoid the death penalty. The kind of language that was used to describe this ruling would have resulted in citations for contempt here. So judges should step up their game instead of cowing the masses into silence whenever they booboo.r
The next president should swep the bebch in Zambia clean. I cannot think of a bench so rotten than this one Sakala heads. I for one cannot even start imagining people like Phillip Musonda and Chinyama could be sitting on the same bench that gallant son of the soil Justice Claver Musumali MHSRIP once sat and dispence such stinking judgements! I just hope they have all started looking for jobs elsewhere, once Kanitundila is booted out they too will have their soiled butts booted off the bench. The time is ticking.
The Judiciary is our last hope. At one point in our nation we lived as people without hope, We had the know it all and do not question government of KK, the court system was merely in his pocket, then came Mwamba Luchembe and I remember celebrating. Zambian people did celebrate because we wanted to be ruled by the military, but because that could have allowed the exit of UNIP and KK. This time around the country is becoming hopeless again by the day and the only institution to of solace is increasingly getting in bed with RB and MMD. We may not yet be there, but we are getting very close to 1986 -Mwamba Luchembe” scenario and I hope not, but the Zambian and the hopeless opposition parties should come together before a lunatic does something bad.
But this situation Kanitundila has created of cozying around with Kafupi is perplexing to say the least, just what the hell is this I D I O T up to? Just how could one with such seemingly blind intent walk straight into a political suicide? Also, this habit of atending all tribal ceremonies wasting tax payers’ money, just what is he trying to prove? Now you have the likes of Gawa Undi saying they want to be called King Gawa because they have 13 million subjects in three countries, no wonder Mutharika and Guebuza stayed away because they can see cessationist moves arising from here claiming some of their people! Banda is so blind.
“President Rupiah Banda has finally put to use the insidious lip-service usually attained as a “side skill” from spending one too many decades in Zambian politics.”
Simply lovely. You go Chilekwa
The entigrity of the judiciary is under attacker not that their indeed is a genuine reason for that, but a few people who want to control the judiciary by seeing our judges make judgements that are popular to these few individuals like this author.I want to tell this author that I am quite comfortable this far with the judgements that have made in the recent past. I would like for this author to put issues into context. You must be very wary with the M’membe factor. He has his OWN issues, you don’t want to get involved with personal matters.I will be the other Zambian that will appluad the judiciary for the job well done. We have got to move on..
Zambian judiciary sucks, time will tell RB is gona pay for all these nonesense keeping watching 2011
You hit the nail on the head, and you were very objective in your analysis. Our judiciary only exists in name, and is a disgrace.
I am surprised that this “article” by “author” Mr Chilekwa Mumba has received “analytical comments” from a total of 25 bloggers (minus #1 Advocate) so far. Fellow bloggers what is there to analyse? It is simply a collection of the already registered feelings of the Post and some LT bloggers rather than a literary piece of work. To quote late Teta, “Zero times Zero is Zero”. In other words, from the literary perspective, the article is bankrupt. And yet it is supposed to be an educated commentary on a very important Zambian institution. Wow!
Natalie and Advocate and mushota, on yo bike!
Chilekwa I concur with you 100%
#18 Mushota why are you such a blonde…
Boring is a subjective word
Mushota is part of these chaps who came to UK because their parents were in these corrupt institutions like the Judicial. The author has diligently expressed the views of millions of Zambians in this article about the clueless and one of the most corrupt Judicial system Zambia has ever produced. The judicial system is too much compromised and saturated. I have got grave concerns having Vice President running Ministry of Justice and legal affairs
This is where the biggest problem came into play and due to promises made for those carrying out judgements in favour of the govt. It will take time to restore good image of the Judicial system.
Uwubomba mwibala alya mwibala. Iam still laughing. When are my fellow Zedians gonna learn. Ha ha ha aha hee hee heeeeeeee.
#18 Mushota
Do you mean your white master’s toilet seat looks like a Toyota Yaris? You boss must be rich to even have a designer toilet seat that looks like a Yaris. Am sure he pays you a lot for you to even call it my yaris. Enjoy your toilet seat clining..not a bad job considering that you get paid more than the senior manage at National Housing Authority in Zambia. I guess a lot of people would do the same if they were in your position
Let the High court be painted again. people are not even seeing that the building is now looking like a Boma Council.
Yes yes dust the windows, paint the buildings,the roof and change the old environment into something better including the image of the judicial system. Dust even the books. make sure the rats have not eaten the pages containing theft by public servant, petitions. I know the acts about legalised polygamy and legalised unfaithfulness are still very fresh.to allow immportant men with tax payers money in their pocket to make full use of the Hotel rooms.
#34 Thanks for exposing Mushota. What the hell does she think a ka Toyota Yaris is. Piece of crap…..
Leave me alone, Do you have a Toyota Yaris. You probably rely on public transport. Thanks
Its not a secret that one can bribe a magistrate in Zambia to get a favourable judgement. I challenge any one here to deny this. Bribery is evil and therefore its no contemptious to brand the system as rotten.
To say that the judiciary should not be political is the same as to say that an arm should not be human. This is a nonsese for the judiciary owes its existence to politics. The word politics comes from the greek ‘polis’ which means city or state. We tend to confuse politics as a science and not as that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government of a nation/state and that for the preservation of peace, prosperity and defence of the person, (through a system of rights and responsibilities) and property. There is no such thing as independence of the judiciary. Neither are the executive nor the legislature independent. They are all interdependent on each other in a democracy. In dictatorships one will dominate the others.
# 38 well said i heard of three guys who were convicted and given suspended sentences for stealing mining equipment worth over K100million, but those that commit misdemeanors are given custodial sentences, comedy of errors indeed
#39 The Saint. Dont play polemics. The politics we are talking about are not in your context. Can you allow say Mulongoti to tell a lawyer what to do just because he Mulongoti is in politics. And what do we mean by having an independet judiciary. If to day the system favours you do no take it that this applies to all of us.
#42 Deja Vu
“Can you allow say Mulongoti to tell a lawyer what to do just because he Mulongoti is in politics. And what do we mean by having an independet judiciary. If to day the system favours you do no take it that this applies to all of us.” Lost in translation. Can someone decipher these hieroglyphics?
#43 The Saint. My explanation is very simple. All am telling you is that your concept of politics is not what is being discussed. Very simple English. Politics as involving every human(Greek Zoen Politicon) does not mean that we are all politicians(Zambian Style). All what this means is that we are social animals who are aware of of our social responsibiltie.This does not include where cadres from poltical parties go to disrupt court sessions nor where a president forces the nation to accept without appeal a suspect judgement.
#44 Deja Vu
I am sorry. I was not aware that the President “forced you to accept without appeal a suspect judgment!” If he did, it amounts to dictatorship. Let me now tell you why I wrote what I wrote in the first place. The appointment of Judges by the Executive means that the Executive has a hand in the Judicial decisions that will be made. The Executive outlines the laws that the Legislature debates and passes and the Executive enforces that law. Whenever the Judiciary has gone contrary in its intepretation of a law, the Executive changes that law. This has happened in UK i.e. human rights vs terrorism.
cntd from 45. In the USA a right wing President is likely to appoint right wing and conservative judges to the Supreme court while left wing will appoint liberals. In this way, the Executive is predetermining the outcomes of judgements, albeit with an invisible and subtle hand. Now coming to the case at hand, i.e. the people vs Chiluba et al. the 14 days is over. Now, can anyone produce the grounds in favour of appeal? can anyone tell us where in the learned Magistrate was misled? Let us hear the facts not emotion.
contd from 46If we had a jury system in Zambia, could a jury of Chiluba’s peers have convicted him? I doubt it. There is only ONE question that the jury needed to have been answered in this case. Did Chiluba steal money from the state? The evidence of theft is that the thing stolen is missing from where it should have been and it is found or can be traced to a particular individual. Similarly, one cannot be convicted of murder if the body or signs of the body of the victim cannot be found (one case in which a conviction was upheld was when a murder took place at sea and the body disposed of there). The Auditor General never testified that state funds went “AWOL”.
I conclude that, strictly speaking, if there was political inteference in Chiluba’s case, the result would have been conviction rather than acquittal. The small man must thank his … for the way things panned out. He escaped by the skin of his tooth. It is because there was no political interference, that Chiluba is free. Having said that, we have the London judgement yet to be registered and I will not be surprised if the judiciary throws that one out as well because of the numerous people who are trying to decide their way. If there is one institution to blame for this decisions, it is the Post. There ‘exjudicial executions’ of people is not serving the interest of justice.
CHILEKWA, GREAT THAT YOU ABLE TO EXPRESS YOUR OPINION, SUBJECTIVELY OR OTHERWISE. THIS IS THE BEUTY OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. AT LEAST WE KNOW THER ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE HAPPY AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT HAPPY WITH ZAMBIAN JUDICIAL DECISIONS. THIS IS EXPECTED SINCE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE FORM THEIR OWN OPINIONS ABOUT ISSUES, ALTHOUGH UNFORTUNATELY NOWADAYS SOME DEPEND ON THEIR “OPINION” LEADERS (SELF SERVING OR NOT) FOR DIRECTION. THIS IS THE REAL ISSUE IN THIS COUNTRY. AT THE END OF THE DAY DECISIONS HAVE TO BE MADE ANYWAY!
#48 THE SAINT: That is the point, the role of the Post. There were two possible verdicts in that case: convict or acquit. The burden for conviction is greater than for acquit. When a judge is in doubt he must acquit for the sake of the accused. I thought that the Prosecutors became too lazy to think legal because they were riding on the back of a horse called Post. FTJ would have been nailed had it not been for the Post misleading everyone including Mutembo.
What Mutembo should have done was to frame the charge in such a way that it questioned the source of the extra funds in the Zamtrop account. Surely funds to the extent of US$8M could only have come from dubious sources, which I am reluctant to profer a guess publicly. As it is, Mutembo boobed full time and after 7 years of wasted time (and enriching himself and Mmembe in the process) let’s simply move on bane.
Useless Judiciary and rotten to the core. We can resume to mate instant justice to culprits till We restore Judicial Confidence and trust again. We dont trust politicians in the legislature, The Excutive-too much corruption and now we cant get fair justice..What is there to continue respecting the govt of the day…Only Anarchy can be understood by this Unipist Corrupt Rupiah Regime,
Job well done dear. Love this article.
A well thought article from a true Zambian.
Nice article. What can you expect from the Zambian Judiciary especially at the moment?
This out come was already expected. I just hope the writter is not cited for contempt
It is true the system is rotten.