Friday, March 29, 2024

DPP Chalwe Mchenga becomes High Courst Judge

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Director of Public Prosecution Chalwe Mchenga

PARLIAMENT has unanimously ratified the appointment of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga as High Court Judge.

Other appointees ratified for the same position are solicitor-general Mubanga Kondolo, his predecessor Dominic Sichinga, and Mrs Nicola Ann Sharpe-Phiri.

Mr Mchenga has been the victim of severe public criticism from the time he refused to appeal the acquittal of former President Frederick Chiluba in 2009, but recently President Sata said he does not support character assassination of individuals who cannot defend themselves like the DPP.

The Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to scrutinise the quartet’s appointment unanimously recommended Mr Mchenga after establishing that allegations of compromise levelled against him were not based on substantial evidence but public opinion.

Moving the motion for the House to adopt the Committee’s report yesterday, chairperson Jack Mwiimbu said: “The Committee is thus unanimous in its resolution that in the absence of substantial evidence to prove the allegations against the nominee (Mr Mchenga), he was unfairly judged and that in the interest of natural rules of justice and human rights, the Committee will not hold allegations against the nominee.

“The Committee, therefore, after due and thorough evaluation of written and oral evidence presented to it by the witnesses and the interviews with the nominees, is of the view that all the four nominees are qualified and competent to serve as Puisne Judges.”

He said all witnesses that were invited to help in the scrutiny of the nominees unreservedly supported Mr Kondolo, Mr Sichinga and Mrs Phiri but Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) opposed the appointment of Mr Mchenga on grounds that he was compromised by the executive when he refused to appeal Dr Chiluba’s acquittal.

LAZ, through its honorary secretary Paulman Chungu, based this stance on the fact that Mr Mchenga refused to respond to it when the association wrote to him asking for his explanation on the matter; and that some ministers in the Rupiah Banda administration publicly declared that government would not appeal against the judgment.
“Thus, when the nominee did not respond to LAZ’s letter, the latter was compelled to believe that the nominee may have been compromised,” the committee’s report reads in part.

Mr Mwiimbu said the Committee observed that witnesses who did not support Mr Mchenga’s appointment based their decisions on public perception without any substantial evidence to prove the allegation.

He said further, when Mr Mchenga appeared before the Select Committee he executed himself well in his explanation to exculpate himself from the allegation that he had been compromised in the Chiluba case.

“The Committee further observes that the nominee was forthright in his answers to the questions posed to him. The Committee is satisfied that Mr Mchenga, State Counsel, acted within confines of the law.

“Further, unless where the exercise of the DPP’s powers involves public policy, in which case the DPP has to consult the Attorney General, the Committee observes that in accordance with Article 56(7) of the Constitution of Zambia, Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia, the exercise of the DPP’s powers is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority, and this includes public opinion,” Mr Mwiimbu, who is also Monze Central MP (UPND), said.

Contributing to debate, Roan MP Chishimba Kambwili (PF) urged the newly-appointed judges to help in speeding up dispensation of justice, saying it is unfair for inmates awaiting trial to spend many years in prison.

And Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini curtailed Minister of Justice Sebastian Zulu’s debate when he attempted to delve into details of the Chiluba case instead of concentrating on the motion on the floor of the House.

Meanwhile, Parliament yesterday heard that over K10 billion was spent on the printing of ballot papers for the September 20 tripartite elections in Durban, South Africa.

Deputy Minister in the Vice President’s Office Edgar Lungu told the House that apart from that expense, K1.2 billion was spent on the up-keep of representatives of different political parties and organisations that witnessed printing of the ballots while K225 million was spent on airlifting the ballots from South Africa to Zambia.

Mr Lungu was responding to a question posed by Chilubi MP Obious Chisala (PF).

And Vice President Guy Scott said printing ballot papers locally is the only way to reduce such huge costs incurred when the exercise is done outside the country.
[Zambia Daily Mail]

31 COMMENTS

  1. Mwimbu YOU ARE A LET DOWN TOGETHER WITH YOUR COMMITTEE!!! If as you claim, IT WAS PUBLIC OPINION, THAT HE WAS COMPROMISED, who’s interests are you now serving, in ratifying his appointment??? For you to justify you stance, CAN YOU PROVIDE THE IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE that has been presented to you SHOWING HE WASN’T COMPROMISED. Did you also allow LAZ & TIZ to present their evidence in person?? LAZ more so THAT IT IS THE SOLE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN Zambia.

    • Kamwendo you are the ACCUSER so you must provide the proof. It works like this when you accuse someone of being compromised you must prove that he/she was compromised and not the accused proving otherwise. Sorry!

    • I know my boss Mr. Mchenga cannot be compromised. He been hard working since the times he was a State Advocate and he’s one of the best lawyers in Zambia. Leave him alone and we Zambians should learn to appreciate. Lets give credit where it due. When God says YES, nobody can say no. Bravo Judge Mchenga! Abash you who like pulling others down. Whether u like it or not he’s a Judge.

  2. Sooner it will be Xavier Chungu, you wait and see. Corrupt minds are now gathering momentum. What can we say they are all Bembas under Chilufya.

  3. Bravo Mr Mchenga! This is one hard working man and you just cannot afford to such brains over hearsay! Kudos parliament and the president. LAZ should stop being and vindictive especially when dealing with people who cannot defend themselves!

  4. Rabid dogs busy lapping up their vomit. Is this not the same guy who they demonised for refusing to appeal Kaluba’s theft acquittal? Mwanya soon you will even deny your own parents and people who voted for you.

  5. Chalwe Mchenga has some debts to pay along the way to the Cobra… How many election petition cases is he going to be given????? All in favour of a by-election and ofcourse, PF will win most of them! Cant you see the Cobra’s venom in all he does???

  6. Had the DPP been from western or southern province, he would have been hanged by his genitals. Now cos he is one of them, they shower him with confet.

  7. I have never seen such an open and aggressive form of nepotism and tribalism. As long as you are a Mulenga, Ngandwe, Mubanga you are above reproach. I can see deep tribal divisions by the time we get to the next elections. This is what you get when you give unemployed youths the power to decide who is going to occupy the highest office in the land. They are most likely to vote with their bellies rather than with their brains.  

  8. How does tribalism come into this when they are saying the vote was anonymous. Unless we do not understand English here. The article implies that almost all MPs voted for them regardless of their parties or tribes. Oh God there are many illiterates in Zambia  

  9. I applaud this decision. This is the right direction to follow. Hope even in the cases involving former ministers we can keep to that. Follow evidence not public opinion. If the state did not have evidence against Chiluba it was fruitless to persue a court case against him when the state knew it would loose. There are many people in our neighbourhood who we suspect of being crooks especially those in GRZ Plc as their lifestyles are beyong a public servants salary but without evidence we can’t take them to court we just live with the fact that they were clever in their theft. And that is just the sad reality which we have to swallow.

    • YOU ARE VERY RIGHT. LETS NOT HAVE THE PUBLIC OPINION OF THE POST. HAS ANYONE EVER  LOOKED AT THE HISTORY OF MCHENGA (FATHER FROM THE EAST, MOTHER FROM ZIMBABWE; NOT BEMBA) TO SEE HOW WELL HE HAS PERFORMED AND JUST FOR THE POST TO COME AND FINISH HIM. THE NCHITOS & MEMBE’S VENDETTA. WELL DONE BA SATA MWANDINI!

  10. Pathetic tribal sentiments! so you mean parliament is bemba,Mwimbu is bemba???? so you are not aware that mmd & upnd are in a marriege that if there was any slight evidence against this guy they were not going to approve his appointment???Read and and understand how the sessions went instead of your foolish hatred to speak for you! if it was Sata’s appointment without ratification from parliament,you may have a reason to yap that nonsense tribal s***.

  11. You will see, next time a well known urepetent thief dies, Sata will declare 60 days national moaning. #13 is completely right, had this Mchenga been going by the name Muleta, Mushala or Mulombwana, he would have been hanged by his bollocks within the first week of Sata’s ascension to power. The tribal bigotry Zondwe Sata is oozing is causing massive injury to the fabric of this country. By the time Northerners realise, North-Westerners, Westerners and Southerners will be calling for cessation from Zambia. We have Angola, Botswana and Namibia where there are working economies as neighbours, you have Zaire, where there is none, you will lose!

  12. You amadanda when we select players to play in the National Team no one cries for tribalism! But in the National Team of PF you cry loudly! Let those who are available to the Team work! And let those who withdrew from the Pact wait until they too can win their own!

  13. Western Province is not a factor in Zambia’s politics anymore because they want to separate and I trust that they are just awaiting for State House to let them go their own way.

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