Friday, March 29, 2024

Lusaka High Court halts Mutembo Nchito’s Tribunal, but refuses to lift his suspension

Share

DPP Mutembo Nchito addressing delegates during the 3rd International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) Conference for the Africa-India Ocean Region in Livingstone at Zambezi Sun Hotel
Suspended DPP Mutembo Nchito

THE Lusaka High Court has stopped proceedings of the tribunal constituted to probe suspended Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mutembo Nchito’s alleged professional misconduct pending outcome of the judicial review hearing.

High Court judge Mubanga Kondolo has also ordered that Mr Nchito commences judicial review and that the matter be conducted expeditiously.

Mr Justice Kondolo ruled yesterday that proceedings of the Annel Silungwe-led tribunal probing Mr Nchito be stayed until the judicial review hearing is concluded or until further orders are issued.

Mr Justice Kondolo has, however, not stayed the suspension of Mr Nchito. Mr Justice Kondolo refused to lift the suspension of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mutembo Nchito.

Mr Nchito had applied for an application for leave to apply for judicial review and asked the Court to stay both the Tribunal proceedings and his suspension.

“It is ordered that the applicant’s suspension from duty is not stayed, it is hereby ordered that interparte hearing shall be heard on June 11 this year,” Judge Kondolo said.

Justice Kondolo also allowed the applicant leave to apply for judicial review and directed that the application for the same be made by originating summons in his chambers with the hearing of the same to be expedited.

“It is further ordered that the decisions and proceedings of the Tribunal be stayed until after the hearing of the summons for judicial review herein or until further orders,” Judge Kondolo said.

Mr Nchito had asked the Court to quash the decision of the Annel Silungwe led Tribunal to commence sittings and inquire into matters that are the subject of appeal in the High Court and Supreme Court respectively.

The applicant wants the Court to restrain the Tribunal from treating him in a manner that is illegal, procedurally improper and irrational and asked the Court to order Attorney general Likando Kalaluka to pay him damages for misfeasance.

“It is illegal for the Tribunal to commence sittings when the bulk of the matters he is facing before it are the subject of an appeal, there is nothing in Article 58 of the Constitution allowing a Tribunal set
up to probe the DPP to make its own procedure,” Mr Nchito said.

Mr Nchito contended that he was suspended on March 10 this year by President Edgar Lungu who appointed a Tribunal to probe him on allegations that were largely similar to those instituted by former deputy finance minister Newton Ng’uni.

Judge Kondolo has since ordered that interparte hearing be heard on June 11 this year

80 COMMENTS

  1. Giving us an insight of legal issues,…..perhaps that is why he was appointed DPP in the first place. It gets interesting from here.

    • Some how it is showing some independence in the zambian judicially because if the wanted to Chito out by all means that Judge could have been called to state house and told what to do after all the zambian president is so powerful

    • Mutembo Nchito is just delaying the inevitable. If the govt is sensible enough, they will just go through with the judicial review and after which continue with the tribunal. Unless of course, the govt lawyers are weak or scared! What is in the judicial review – 1. MN needs to prove that the judges on the tribunal are bias. 2. NM needs to prove its against public interest to hold the tribunal in camera Both of the 2 grounds can be disposed of easily 🙂

  2. But big question is, why is the tribunal scared of conducting its deliberations in public? The one accused of being guilty wants to be tried in the open while the accusers want it done in secret! What sense doe that make honestly? Are the judges scared of their dullness being exposed?

    • Ba Belinda,

      There is nothing unusual here. His predecessor, Mukelabai Mukelabai’s tribunal hearing was also held in camera at the insistence of the same Mutembo Nchito and his friend Fred Mmembe.

    • refer to history, most if not all former DPP’s tribunal have been held in camera, this one is not exception. what u shuld ask , is it worth to have a tribunal now, are the allegations against MN worth the salt of setting up a tribunal?

    • There has only been one DPP tribunal before this one, the mukelabai one. It was held in Camera because he did not object. So ba fisha chani ba mamba la aba? Let them condut it in public. As tax payers, we want to know. Please, if your mother does not pay tax, us and our mothers that pay tax want to know. It should actually be beemed live. The tribunal members are all from one region

      1. Chilungwe Tumbuka from Lundazi Eastern
      2. Pig Mbulube Ngoni from Chpata Eastern
      3. Sikala Chewa from Katete Eastern
      4. Zulu Spokes person Eastern

      It is both tribal regional and vindictive. Finally the other two judges have a bone to chew with Mutembo for publicly showing their corruption. They may just want to get at him. Thus, let there be transparency. I do not support Mutembo but the…

    • My Brother, where on earth is an investigation held in the publi domain?

      A tribunal is an investigation and so it goes that it should be held in camera. Exposing the it to the public would only joepardise the proceedings but also puts the lives of the witnesses in danger!

  3. This Nchito had the the late former DPP tried in camera but he thinks he is special otherwise he is fighting a losing battle avd wasting the courts and our time. He knows that he will be arrested when he is fired for various crimes he committed.

  4. This tribunal has RB written all over it. Trying to settle old scores and come clean from his corrupt oil deals. EL would do well to distance himself from this hullabaloo before he is embarrassed.
    Justice Ngulube is a disgraced Judge too. After being caught dipping his thick fingers in the cookie jar with his accomplice FTJ.
    Not that Mutembo is any cleaner than them all.

    *Grabs popcorn*

    Ni tribunal ya nyoko

    • As regards Judge Ngulube, the person who stole was President FTJ. Judge Ngulube had NO knowledge whatsoever that the money the president had paid for Judge Ngulube’s son’s fees was money from the Zamtroop account. If Judge Ngulube had lacked morals like we are seeing from the behaviour of some govt officers, he would have refused to step down. He is a man of high morals but remember that a good guy in a bad place is just another bad guy.

    • Judge Sakala is a disgraced Judge too as he openly showed his biasness and compromise when he refused to greet the head of the biggest opposition leader. SHAME

  5. So now he will go to another court and fight for his reinstatement as DPP. If the government of the day does not need you, leave Nchito. You will be better off on your own that clinging to the DPP position.

    • Then RB should be set free when he leaves? He is clinging on to that position not because he is desperate or needs to eat, no. He is doing it for the good of this country.

    • @6 Dontcare. Mutembo is fighting for the Constitution of the country, not for his stomach. He can work anywhere in the world. He has a good reputation.
      We Zambians must learn that a President MUST ALSO FOLLOW THE CONSTITUTION. He is not above the law. It is not enough for a President not to like a DPP to have him removed by hook or by crook. Mutembo said: “Those who want to remove me have power to do so, BUT THEY MUST DO IT WITHIN THE LAW..”. That is good for the country and every well meaning Zambian must support that. No tin pot dictators in Zambia!
      Viva Mutembo!

  6. Ba Belinda,

    There is nothing unusual here. His predecessor, Mukelabai Mukelabai’s tribunal hearing was also held in camera at the insistence of the same Mutembo Nchito and his friend Fred Mmembe.

  7. @ William .. Why bring in RB in this issue? If it’s the issue of settling scores, didn’t Mutembo behave the same as DPP against RB?! So in your honest and honorable view it’s fair for Mutembo to falsely fix those you and him hate the most?! Wait my a Dear William, this Mutembo will be legally undressed

    • Ok. Let him be undressed, but can we please do the undressing IN PUBLIC & NOT IN SECRET? Are we afraid that it might be ECL who will be undressed?

  8. Nchito is as guilty as sin together with his accomplices Mmembe and Kabimba.
    Under Sata they perverted the course of justice in Zambia.
    Time to sort them out.

  9. So Nchito likes his Nchito. Your employer says you haven’t got a job and you insist you have got one.

    Nchito alibe Nchito, full stop.

    These are people who think they are so important. Why do you borrow and refuse to pay back in the first place. Give us our DBZ money and we leave you alone.

  10. Nchito, just know that your days are numbered your delaying tactics will not help you as we will vote for PF in 2016 again and make sure that justice come to pass.

  11. Nchito and Mmembe again, these homo fagots and mother fu…..have delusions of grandeur. They think they are bigger than Zambia.
    We just need some short cuts to get rid of these bast…… Zambia will be better off without Nchito and Mmembe.

    • @ Mutale Chitapankwa;

      You are a good client of Chainama. You seem to have born from parents that were both imbeciles.

      Mutembo Nchito and Fred Mmembe are heroes of the Zambia.

    • Iwe ka @Mutale Chitapankwa. That is how xenophobes are born. You run out of things to kill and you start killing your own offspring. Get your sorry behind to KZN where your fellow ignorant xenophobes are looking for the next excuse to exercise their folly! STOOPID

    • hilda malama are the rumors going around true that you are actually a man and that you produced your younger sister and brother with your mother?

  12. If Mukelabai did not fight to be heard in the open that should not stop others from requesting or insisting to be heard in the open.It is their right to do so.

    That precedent my friend is not law and it’s circumstances may be different from the Mutembo”s .

  13. Edgar Lungu is the most useless and corrupt president that Zambia has ever produced.

    We will defend the DPP to the last drop of the blood.

    But Edgar Lungu will rot in cells be buried at Embasy Park.

    Why troubling the innocent DPP? May u die b4 2016 u Chakolwa Tasila Muhammed Kachasu Lungu.

    • You’re so genuine madam Hildah, soooo genuine. DPP is Innocent whilst Edgar is corrupt and useless. Wow!!

    • hilda malama are the rumors going around true that you are actually a man and that you produced your younger sister and brother with your mother?

  14. There is nothing illegal or wrong to try Mutembo in Camera. The tribunal maintained which previous tribunals have maintained. The office of the DPP, a constitutional office not an individual is what is being protected. In investigating Mukelebai and indeed other constitutional bearers, same reasoning is always applied therefore a precedent has been set. Moreover legally this is an investigative not an adjudicating tribunal. An accused person cannot dictate how he should be investigated. This is nothing but abuse and raping the judicial process. Nchito and his cohort are hoping for the unthinkable to happen that EL will lose an election and they will again get to control power hence this time wasting. They will get a rude shock. It is over. No more corruption lies.

    • @The game, If any one ever needed an example of an ignorant person you are it!

      Being able to type online does not make your thoughts “law” or valid.

  15. I believe the tribunal has furnished the nation with reasons for their decision to hold proceedings in camera. Any genuine and progressive critic must address those reasons and provide counter proposals failure to which people are just being malicious to the tribunal.

  16. madam Hildah

    You are right our president has got only a few months before he is rendered useless. He has auctioned his soul to those who financed his campaign.

    His friend Levy MHRS was almost used by Chiluba but he was quick enough to realise and he disassociated himself from Chiluba very quickly and left him to face the law.

  17. It is a matter of time. the state machinery will catch up with him. That office does not belong to him any more. He is disgraced.

  18. Sata was not stupid to appoint Mutembo as DPP. If you don’t know, Mutembo understands that the office of DPP is powerful enough to prosecute a sitting president as long as the person has enough courage to do so and enough evidence. Trust me if he wins this one, there will be consiquencies both! Mutambo has that gumption and he is fighting in Zambia’s corner. God bless you sir. We need more people like you!

    • I say yes to that Sir, Zambia needs heros! Mutembo will come through for us, thank you Sir for all your efforts on behalf of your beloved country and whatever happens you have won! Thank You so much Nchito, can’t thank you enough!

  19. Its clear Mutembo has an ace up his sleeve! The man may have issues but l admire his tenacity not to go down without a fight. Great lesson

    • But there must be honour and dignity in the way one conducts himself. If your position is questioned, you must provide an answer or stand aside until an answer is provided. This is the self-same culture of african leaders fighting tooth and nail to hold on to positions when their position is severely compromised.

      How come a holder of a public position does not want to account for his activities to the public, to his employer and to a public tribunal.

      Even in the unlikely event that he won this case, he would be totally unfit to hold such a position.

      He has brought shame and disgrace to the Zambian judicial and criminal justice system. The legal system should not be used for pursuing personal vendetta.

      Even the judge who has ruled on this matter has overstepped his powers.

    • Mutembo Nchito is a hypocrite.When RB challenged him in court that he cannot prosecute Fred M’membe because of their close friendship,he insisted he wanted to personally prosecute the case.In other words he did not want to recuse himself the same thing he is insisting on Justices Ngulube and Sakala to do.What a shame!!!!

  20. The stupidity of Zambians is so widespread that they will even shot their own defender! You cry about the President having so much power yet you fail to stomach an independent judiciary and DPP. What happened to the separation of powers? Government which some of you foolishly call BOMA is not just the President and his henchmen. There are actually three branches of government! Get this in your heads next time you sing BOMA. Sensible people will never touch their prosecutor no matter what he did coz he was already ratified by one branch of government! It is not without reason that our late President promoted Chalwe Nchenga even after all those things he did. He did not want to discourage others frm taking up this position! If you don’t that then you don’t deserve a country called Zambia.

  21. At the time when we want Access to information, how can one now talk about secret hearing. If the Mukelabai hearing was in secret (and I think it was not right), that does not mean it is right to hold this in secret too. There are many interested parties in this tribunal since the TORs are many and involve several people. Let us be an open society like the Americans where citizens even comment on matters in court.

  22. Mukelebai never objected to being tried on camera! He sat on his own rights and therefore you can argue that this is precedence! Many poor people are languishing in prison and no one speaks for them. But when the DPP starts to go after the rich everyone is up in arms. The western diplomats are also !d!0ts. If it was a homosexual on trial they could have been quick to point out the wrong. But since it is Zambians destroying their own system, they will watch on sidelines until after everything is out of control!

  23. This guy is a coward who abused the law to bully people he considered his enemies .Now he is refusing to face up with the consequences of his actions. He is saying the judges do have a conflict of interest. He decided to take up the contempt of court case involving Mmembe .Zambians know Nchito and Mmembe are refusing to pay huge sums of tax payers money they owe the national asset DBZ.

    • @ 25 Umuswema, I thought what Mutembo is insisting on is to be help in the open, in public? He wants to answer those same questions IN PUBLIC like why he took over Fred Mmembe’s case. I don’t think that is the behaviour of a coward. Those who want to hide the proceedings and come out with a verdict using secret witnesses – those are the cowards.
      We want to see if ECL is involved in this or not – OPENLY & FAIRLY. We want to see that the Judiciary is unbiased – OPENLY! Is that too much for Mutembo to ask?

  24. Ba chuck what disgrace has he brought to that office? Just because a quack like Newton Nguni says out DPP is dirty does not make him so! Newton himself said the DPP has made a lot of families suffer. What does that tell you? Did you want him to be handing out gifts to people like Kashiwa Bulaya, xavier Chungu, Richard Sakala, Mr Musonda from ZANACO e.t.c? He sent a lot of rich people to prison and Rupiah was going to be next that is why you are stoning his office! You have no shame really!

    • This hero of yours Mutembo Nchito

      a) wanted to personally prosecute a case involving his
      friend Fred M’membe.

      b) Issued a nolle in a case involving Raja Maghtani
      whose Bank he owed $4.5million.No sooner than
      this nolle was issued,Finance Bank equally
      dropped their case against Mutembo Nchito.

      c) He forged a High Court Order in favor of his
      client.

      Are the above actions not disgraceful to DPP’S Office?

  25. His job was to send people to prison and it was up to the police to investigate! What did you expect him to do as DPP? Party with criminals? DBZ was purely a business transaction! Very difference from the broad daylight banditry of Rupiah Banda and his sons!

    • You have no proof that RB stole. This was a vengeance motivated action by Mmembe/Mutembo. They did this to FTJ by clouding Levy’s reasoning just as they did to Sata. The relationship of Mmembe & RB was always of running battles. Just as insinuate that RB stole other circles say Levy stole billions while he pretended to fight corruption. Mmembe & Mutembo made it very difficult for Simeza & Sangwa to defend cases freely by using Levy.

    • By the way why is Mutembo putting road blocks in the case. Simply put he is afraid of the truth coming out.

  26. Free advice for President Lungu about Chishimba Kambwili (sorry different topic): Just a friendly and timely warning for you Mr. President: Get rid of Kambwili now, not later. You listened when we spoke about Guy Scott, even now, you need to listen. This Kambwili will cause problems for you and the PF in the future; you don’t need that. At the time when the party has just started to heal from problems created artificially by Guy Scott, Kambwili cannot start another fight. He cannot be trusted you will trust him at your own peril. He has shown his true colours now, so he needs to be shown the door. He has to be out of cabinet completely. Let him cause problems now, while he is out of cabinet as you would have time to deal with them rather than wait later when it is close to elections.

  27. I understand Hildah Malama is a hermaphrodite that is why she is so bitter.
    Fred Mmembe and Nchito are the most corrupt *****s, may be they are the ones behind this pesudonym (Hildah chinyo chanunka Malama).
    Why is nchito scared to appear before the tribunal? Only an ***** like Hildah Malama can support such low level thinking.

  28. While I totally disagree with HaHilda HaMalama retarded reasoning, I do not think she, if is a woman, deserves such an insult. A woman private parts, unlike ours men, are sacred and should not be lowered in such despicable manner. Mutale Chitapankwa you are completely off line and please discard yourself from this debate. We do not need such people to be part of this debate.

  29. Ngobola Cengelo Muyembe

    So far your arguments have made a lot of sense. No lawyer in this country has taken on big wigs like former presidents with their friend. On record only Mutembo has done that.

    It is obvious that they will rise up against him and will use all sorts of tricks to hound him out.

    As for the at DBZ loan I find some argument that he stole very ignorant of simple contract law. If some one goes in the day light to ask for a loan that is not like some one sending Richard Kachingwe secretly to Nigeria for oil deals.

    • ‘No lawyer in this country has taken on big wigs like former presidents with their friend.’ Although you’re right there, Judges Mutuna and Kajimanga took on a sitting president, Sata, and stopped his tribunal in its tracks. Now, that’s what I call guts.

  30. Ngobola Cengelo Muyembe

    So far your arguments have made a lot of sense. No lawyer in this country has taken on big wigs like former presidents with their friend. On record only Mutembo has done that.

    It is obvious that they will rise up against him and will use all sorts of tricks to hound him out.

    As for the DBZ loan I find some argument that he stole very ignorant of simple contract law. If some one goes in the day light to ask for a loan that is not like some one sending Richard Kachingwe secretly to Nigeria for oil deals.

  31. I suggest we keep this discussion civil as it not a competition on whose insults are the most shocking, if that was the case, I will concede right now.
    What people fail to understand in Zambia is that In our legal system, the DPP wields tremendous power. His authority to compel testimony of witnesses under oath and to subpoena documents creates enormous risk of harassment and serious injury to innocent people if misused. In addition to extraordinary power, the prosecutor possesses extraordinary discretion that is sweeping,
    unreviewable and, for the most part, is exercised in secret. On his own, he may initiate an investigation, determine its course
    and scope, decide whom to call as witnesses, define the crimes to be
    charged, dispose of cases through negotiated pleas, and decide whom…

  32. It’s amazing how many ignorant people come out here and type crap they believe is law. Let nothing but the truth be told. And let every witness worth his word or bolls come out in the open.

  33. The prosecutor’s functions in our system is that of an adversary since ours is an adversary system and this will never be understood by the likes of Newton Nguni or RB.

    You might argue however that his responsibility during the exercise of the sweeping discretionary power granted to him “differs from that of the usual advocate; his duty is to seek justice and not merely to convict. And that was what seemed to transpire but this could have been corrected without that senseless Tribunal.

    I know Fred Mmembe acts a bit over the to in defense of Nchito which is a little inappropriate but overall, there was no violation of any underlying statute.
    At the end of the day, it is not Mutembo who will lose, it is the Zambian people!

  34. It does not take a lawyer to know that Mutambo Nchito and Membe borrowed money from DBZ and have refused to pay.

    In their quest to crowd people’s mins, they label President Banda and Lungu thieves.

    The truth is that the money they got from DBZ is public and we need it. Lets leave the legal jargon out of this. The bottom line is that money was borrowed and money needs to be paid back.

    The suspended DPP wants to cling to his job because he knows he has lots to answer.

    This time you wont manage to remove immunity of Presidents and still money by false pretenses

  35. OUT OF PULL-HIM-DOWNL (phd) SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT MUTEMBO WAS SO VERY GUILTY. BUT AFTER THIS TRIBUNAL WAS FORMED, IT HAS BECOME CLEAR THAT THIS MAN IS INNOCENT. THE BREBNA CHANGALA HAS SHOWN IT ALL. NOW THEY WANT TO TRY HIM IN SECRETE. MUTEMBO WANTS THE TRIBUNAL IN PUBLIC. HE HAS NOTHING TO HIDE. THE ONES HOLDING SECRETE TRIBUNALS ARE GUILTY. AFRAID TO BE EMBARRASSED IN PUBLIC. THE GUILTY ARE AFRAID.

    • We all know that the reason Nchito wanted tribunal to be public was to draw public sympathy by trying to discredit the tribunal with pettiness. He was almost succeeding but I don’t know what will follow. This country is so compromised. People are no longer genuine in their dealings except to discredit this one or that one. It is a pity it will take us time to be true to our actions and foster development.

  36. Some Zambians can be so petty and mediocre as evidenced by some comments here, let’s not be doing secrete courts and judging each other before conviction. Public office, public interest, public trial. This is no meat for cadres.

  37. A courageous and independent DPP can ensure that the President and his Ministers are wary of the consequences of misusing public fund during their stay in office.
    How can we be calling for a presidential running mate when we can’t withstand the pressure from an independent DPP?

    One of the most successful Presidents in American History was Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet was referred to as a Team of Rivals. A good politician is not afraid of worthy opponents.

    In Zambia we pay people to oppose government in Parliament but very few of them know this. Only the likes of Ndondo Chindoloma, Cameron Pwele and Bernie Mwinga understood the work of the backbench-er.

  38. That Judge is sensitive to the public interest, stay the tribunal but make sure the judicial review is conducted expeditiously. Not what former DPP Mutembo wanted at all, just look at the subdued heading in today’s Past news which has tried to hide the Tribunal stay with a screaming headline on RB with the lepist Tayali of all rabbits as the lead story!
    Now can our youthful Attorney General prove his worth to us the public, the ultimate appointing authority. Mutembo is ripe for picking, I say!

  39. Mutembo Nchito is just exercising his right and using all the available options to delay the process of the tribunal. Does it matter if the charges are similar to the one Mr Nguni raised? No, it is common knowledge what Mutembo and his cartel comrades have been doing. Mutembo!!! “time is not a friend of mine” sang Charlie Pride. Just pray that the invisible hand of justice spares you. When you are DPP you are not a law unto yourself, even presidents who had immunity their immunity were stripped talk about you the DPP.??

    • @45 Mwango Mofya. You ask why Mutembo is “fighting hard for the position of DPP”?. I don’t think he wants to be DPP at any cost. Firstly, he has said “those who want to remove me have the power to do so, but they should do it WITHIN THE LAW..”. The President must learn to obey the constitution. We are all equal before the law.
      Secondly, the constitution gives him rights as a Zambian citizen. Some of those rights are for a free, fair and open trial. That is what he is fighting for.
      Zambians are fond of giving up their rights to any politician who threatens them. Mutembo is standing up for his rights. That is very important. A tyrant will not give you your rights willingly. You have to fight for them. We are, after all “..a country of laws and not of men…” Levy Patrick Mwanawasa

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading