Commentary on the strides Zambia has made in growing our democracy is mixed and it seems impossible for any Zambian to accept views without bias. Many claim that our democracy has gone to the dogs and we are “banana republic”, yet many still claim Zambia is one of the most democratic state in Africa probably second only to Botswana. The truth is that we have grown as a democracy from the Zambia of the 90’s and have the potential to surpass even the first world.
Now, Democracy has many players and aspects and in order to grow the is a need for all players to be in sink. The main players are the GOVERNMENT, the PEOPLE, the PRESS and the CIVIL SOCIETY. By design democracy begins with the PEOPLE. That’s perhaps the reason why, even with similar laws, no two countries have the same kind of democracy. You see, people’s cultures and norms are different from one country to another and therefore they will not enjoy the same laws equally. The CIVIL SOCIETY and the PRESS are the watchdogs that fight to ensure the PEOPLE’S interests are always at the center of running a democratic government. The GOVERNMENT forms another important part of democracy and it is divided into three main arms which have very separate roles which should however work together. In the next few weeks I will right some articles with my opinion of how these different players in the Zambian democratic dispensation have performed to get us to the level we now are.
To begin with I wish to state that I have complete faith in our growth as a democratic state. We may not be there yet but we will definitely get there. I will start with the Government and the Judiciary in particular.
The Judiciary
This is the most important link in a democratic system. A strong, Just, Corrupt free judiciary ensures that everyone in the state is operating within the law. It protests citizens from the executive, from business and vice versa. Business will not only invest in our country because they like our policies but also because they are confident that judicial process will protect them should they have disputes. Believe me; no matter how sweet investment policies sound the really big investors will not go into a country where the rule of law is not paramount. With a weak and corrupt Judiciary you get only cowboy investors who are by nature risk takers and are comfortable with corruption.
The Zambian judiciary is far from FAIR and JUST. It’s so rigged with corruption that you see judges receiving bribes in public places. Some judges will send their secretaries or even fellow judges to collect ‘gwagu’. What a shame. I am only an Opinion writer but I challenge any investigative journalist or indeed the anti-corruption commission to go to the courts and pretend they have a problem and need “help with the judge”. You will be shocked how many middlemen you will find ready to connect you to one judge or another. The most sickening is the ease with which lawyers can bribe these judges. Often the best lawyer means the most connected. Right now in Zambia justice is for sale to the highest bidders.
As if to balance things, when a case is brought to them and there is no “briber” they get excessive in sentencing. So the poor suffer. I once read of a case where a lorry boy was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by a judge in Ndola. When passing Judgment he said and I quote “I find you guilty because facts show that you had sufficient opportunity to commit the crime”. This seemed all circumstantial to me unless the article was badly written and failed to show the main evidence relied upon by the judge. Of course the lorry boy will rot in jail because he could not afford to appeal. George Mpombo Junior, who gruesomely murders and decapitates his expectant girlfriend, gets 10 years. Where is the Justice there.
Yes we have a corrupt Judiciary. The Judiciary is also Political or may I say too Political. Yes Judges are humans and will always have political opinions but those opinions should not reach the bench. What we have now are Judges that are either PF or UPND and its easy to see this in their rulings. Yes the Judiciary in Zambia is the weakest link in our democracy.
Our hope is the Law Association of Zambia but in their current state they are hopeless. They clearly have an agenda and it is ‘anti Lungu’. While they have made some valuable contribution at times they have at many times shown such shameless bias against the current government that some quarters of the society want them disbanded. The hiring of a private lawyer to defend the Nchitos reeks of personal agenda. On a lighter note; it was funny to see LAZ seeking protection and respect of the public order act. It would have been so bold of them to tell the police to back off and let the demonstrators continue with their right to assembly. After all that is always their stance.
In conclusion, I would like to say that it is sad that law is not a definite science otherwise we could replace all the judges with computers or robots which would make the Judiciary just at all times. So we are left with this same generation of crooked and corrupt Judiciary which is self-serving at best. My appeal to the Judges, Lawyers and all personnel in the judiciary is -Change. You are holding the country’s democratic process backwards and history will judge you harshly if you don’t head this call. I also wish to encourage and applaud the few honest Judges and lawyers who give us hope. You are the true heroes our democracy needs and while no heroes songs will be sung of you. History will remember you.
By Andrew Kapya
Lawyers have destroyed Zambia.
NO THE JUDICIARY IS ROTTEN AND DO NOT HAVE THE GUTS TO STAND UP FOR THE RIGHT.
At last, the finger is pointing to the right direction.
By the way, I cannot even begin to imagine the smell of sweat under those wigs in the hot weather! Can’t they find a more appropriate dress?
I agree 100%, I hope this can drive for serious introspection from members of the Judiciary. I best can describe it as “white washed tombs” look clean outside with intimidating garments, a hoary head before which bow, but inside its full of “dead bodies” ..white washed tombs!
clarification : what I agree with 100% is the title “The Judiciary is the weakest Link in Zambia’s Democracy”, on the body of the article certain things I don’t fully agree with the writer but generally its good article for a sensible debate.
In a nutshell, well put
The Zambian citizenry is flummoxed with low moral standards exhibited by the judiciary in Zambia. The ‘so called’ are a BIG disgrace to the nation wallowing in dirt corruption without any moral conscious.
‘So called judges’ in Zambia are a BIG let down.
Start with the local courts then you’ll know what corruption looks like.
Over-generalization is not a reflection of maturity. Like all human systems and sub-systems, the judicature also commits human errors. Human error is a permanent feature of judicature as well as executive and legislature. Even great LAZ can be perceived as it is not. What is the way forward? The way forward is identifying and resolving shortcomings and distortions on a permanent basis. That is, review regularly and respond promptly to calls for attention. One area that could add value to the public image and competence of the judicature is to professionalize legal translation and legal interpretation. It is a mockery of justice to approach legal translation/interpretation in a casual manner as is the case at the moment.
This article is based on assumptions. It is a personal opinion. Lawyers and judges are human beings who err some times. As such there is ground of appeal when one litigating party is not satisfied with the court ‘s ruling.
LAZ case of Nchito is a matter of professional conduct and ethics. If anyone is legally concerned , he must sue LAZ. To say Nchito does not need to be represented is wrong in law . Any lawyer to represent Nchito will still a member of LAZ. Above all , He was denied Legal representation in the tribunal and why should he denied now.
Who appoints Judges? the President of course.. If Judges appointed by the President and become corrupt, tell the President to fire as He did with Mutembo. It was easier Mutembo and it can be done with judges
Please Leave this conversation to the wise, too many words here but no substance.
It like having a president who by profession is a doctor’s and the health service rots, or a former educator and the education system collapses. That says he is a useless president and was also useless at his job..
Lungu is supposed to be a lawyer yet the judiciary is collapsing. He was a failure is his private life and is a failure as a president.
Mr Andrew Chapya, or whatever your horrible stu.pid name is called, I initially agreed with you BUT only realised that you are one of the fo.olish paid PF Cadres that always claim to be non political when they know that they are carrying PF faeces in their hands.
First of all, you made lurid allegation that the Judiciary is the “weakest link in Zambia’s Democracy” which is broadly true. But your explanation beggars belief and horribly very st.upid quite frankly. You made an allegation of Judges receiving bribes but where is the evidence – you twat? Deliberately you left out good examples like the Petition mishandled by ConCourt; That fat ugly Fake Chief Justice’s failure to set up a tribunal for Dora’s Maize gate; Soiled Judge Nkonde’s conflict of interest, and Essau Chulu…
Contd…..
Essau Chulu announcing fake results live on TV etc! Then you took off very dirty pants, leaving your stin.king Ar.se by accusing LAZ of having an Agenda against Lungu without giving us any evidence – oh my God, I wish God takes you somewhere we will never see you again. You mean Lungu should be allowed to jail anyone he doesn’t like without representation in courts you have just called “weakest links”? Why should LAZ not defend its fully paid up member who pays subscriptions? It is NOT shocking that even an Ar.sewhore like you can be dreaming of replacing all Judges in Zambia with judges loyal to you and Lungu!! Keep on dreaming Assol, that will never happen – Zambia is for all of us!! Mother fcker!!
Lungu has zero integrity. Morals from a chawama pit latrine.
He is corrupt to the core. Uses and condons violence.
Just look at his silence over kiezer zulus conduct during CAF or mwilas public speeches to caders to steal plots and take over public places.
An embarrassment of a president.
Nuf said.
The Executive arm of govt currently led by illegitimate Lungu has corrupted and compromised the whole Judiciary in Zambia.The three muskateer night Judges at Concourt were bribed by Lungu to dismiss the Petition illegally and now the country is on fire without Hearing the Petition in Court. The country is on the verge of a Civil war becoz of Concourt mishandling of the Presidential Petition. Let the Petition be heard without further delays.
PF has helped a lot to the increase of corruption in the judiciary. Andrew you are a PF boy, do not shift the attention from the violent, intolerant and corrupt PF to the judiciary.
Judiciary’s rot began when Lungu BRIBED high court judges after the 2014 PF convention to defeat MILES SAMPA. The disgraced ConCourt petition debacle exposed the rot to the entire world.
PF has destroyed the democratic gains we had achieved in 20 years.
– The Presidency is rotten, weak & has no clue on how to solve the country woes & would rather be globe-trotting at every opportunity.
– Parliament is a tissue paper
– Public Media (DeadNBC) is unashamedly biased, whilst Independent media has been gagged, brutalized
– Police is very brutal & openly biased towards PF
– ZAF has been reduced to a PF rigging ward
– Civil society is no longer vibrant as donor funding has dwindled after Govt centralized funding
– Treasury has adopted exchange controls that benefit a strong kwacha at…
CONT’D…..
– Treasury has adopted exchange controls that benefit a strong kwacha at the expense of the economy
– ZRA has become a PF ward for fighting PF’s personal enemies
– The church has been reduced to a tithe-collection get-rich-quick scheme
Lungu is a BIG disgrace to a noble profession of lawyers. Lawyers are supposed to be beacon of justice and this is expected to be enhanced if one of them ascends to a high office like head of state. However,Zambia is experiencing the worst leader since independence and Lungu is now among the worst enemy of democracy in the world. Check worse world democracies Zambia ranks among the worst ten countries. This is shameful to LAZ and the legal profession in Zambia.
We must start drawing lists of all those thugs working with Edgar Corrupt Lungu. The List must contain their real names, where they work, where they live, what work they do for Lungu, and where else they worked. This information is key to understanding why we are in this s**t as a country.
LAZ disciplined Lungu for swindling a client now he is flexing muscles acquired thru a dubious 2016 win.
Once noble profession destroyed by call boy mentality administration ( kulyamao)
I dont know why Zambian judges and lawyers still wear those stupid wigs, the UK itself where we copied it from did away with them a long long time ago. And you bet for most of these goons especially those on the Constitutional court, those wigs are dens for lice!
That’s is well articulated from a neutral point of view. These days people do not follow or respect rule of law because of the same corruption which is at the centre stage of our judiciary. Especially when the people involved are well to do, cases have no end so that they can pocket as much as they can. The other worrying thing in Zambia is the ignorance being exhibited by journalists in private media. These people if not corrected can cause civil war in Zambia. The way they are twisting the stories especially between our two big parties, PF and UPND is quite dangerous. This is how civil war started in Rwanda. These journalists can change ordinary comment into insults just to create enmity between leaders. All the deadly differences that we have been experiencing in our country of late,…
THE AUTHOR MUST PROOF READ, ITS “SYNC” AND NOT “SINK”!
“I will right some articles with my opinion….” => “I will write some articles with my opinion ..” PLEASE ASK SOMEONE TO PROOF-READ YOUR ARTICLE BEFORE YOU PUBLISH IT….