Friday, March 29, 2024

Mutembo Nchito defends nolle prosequi entered by the State

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Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito
Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito

The Powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to enter into a nolle prosequi have continued to come under criticism by members of the public.

The issue which was first raised at the Legal and Justice Sector Reforms Commission public sittings which opened in Lusaka last week, was also a point of petition yesterday.

A petitioner has observed that the State through the DPP has been using nolle prosequi to silence political opponents.

During its sitting in Mtendere township at the Catholic Church today, a resident Emmanuel Tembo petitioned that the courts be should be given the authority to either grant or deny the DPP to enter into a nolle in court cases.

Mr. Tembo noted that in most cases the State takes the case to court without proper evidence and ends up entering into a nolle when it is discovered that it would lose.

Mr Tembo stated that political opponents and other innocent citizens are denied justice whenever the State enters into a nolle as they would be waiting for investigations into a case which he said doesn’t happen hence his suggestion that there should be a time frame for the State to enter into a nolle.

In response to the petition on the powers of the DPP to enter into a nolle, Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito explained that the State takes such legal action in order to ensure that an accused person receives justice in court.

Mr Nchito explained that 99 percent of cases the State enters into a nolle do not involve politicians but mere citizens in order to allow further investigations so that no party is unjustly treated .

He added that statements to insinuate that a nolle is meant for political opponents were baseless.

Similar observations on the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions to enter into a nolle were made by petitioners at the Lusaka Civic Centre and Chawama public sittings last week.

The Justice Fredrick Choma led Commission will today be sitting in at Dzithandizeni Trades School in Lusaka’s Garden compound.

And Mr. Tembo has appealed to the commission to quickly enquire into the operations of the Zambia Institute of Advance Legal Education (ZIALE) which he has accused of deliberately limiting the number of practicing lawyers in Zambia for selfish reasons.

He said due to the limited the number of lawyers in Zambia, practicing lawyers have taken advantage of their clients to charge exorbitant fees while many who cannot afford to pay have ended up in prison due to lack of legal representation.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Nolles are either proof of incompetence by the DPP or he only enters them for political reasons to frustrate and threaten the persecuted (pun not intended). Otherwise nolles are a public confirmation that the prosecutor did not know what he was doing but still does not want to lose the case in open court.

  2. Legal training is lecturer-driven and so the lecturer reigns supreme. The lecturers are of high calibre and you cannot ask for more when you have State Counsels E Silwamba, Malambo, Mchenga etc showing the would be lawyers the ropes. Law is a matter of life and death and only the very competent should be allowed to practice. However, ZIALE should open up space by allowing independent exam experts to review the papers or even set them.

    As for now, well done teaching staff and Mr Mulembe.

  3. This is the DPP who deterred a nolle for his creditor Rahjan Mahtani in a case of forgery ofBOZ documents where Mahtani and his lawyer John Sangwa had already been judged by the Court to have a case to answer. From the Clive Chirwa case I understand that if the Court finds you with a case to answer the state has provided enough evidence that you need to RE-butt or you are guilty. Can NCHITO explain the Mahtani nolle?

  4. Mutembo does not feet to be the DPP because so many cases which the state has sounded to be loosing have ended up into Nolle Proseque. How many ordinary citizen can he prove to the Nation placed in such an act?

  5. Submitting things which will only be thrown through the window if the submissions do not suit the politicians is the major problems with these commissions.

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