Zambian human rights activist Gregory Chifire has maintained that he is not guilty after he was sentenced to six years in prison.
Mr Chifire who was jailed on Friday for six years after he criticized the Supreme Court Judges over the handling of the Stanbic Bank and Savenda saga said he has always known that the Zambian Judiciary is at its lowest and that this Judgment only goes to confirm that view.
“Am not guilty. I shall walk with my head high, I shall walk tall. I shall always speak ‘the right’. After all it is our sacred right to express ourselves. No rightful court under heaven has right to deprive citizens of their freedoms. These are some of the execesses that we must never allow to be championed in our Country,” Mr Chifire wrote on his Facebook page.
“I will never sacrifice my people’s freedoms at the alter of expedience. ‘I would rather die at my post’. We need to tell the truth as it is. We need to stand against tyranny.”
“I seek not sympathy. I seek justice. Not for me, but the greater good of society. The decisions that we make now, have far reaching consequence for the future. The sacrifices we make now, we may never enjoy them in our life time but, the future generations. Yes sacrifice we must, otherwise we shall never see the luminous summit.”
He added, “Many may not understand now. Its not about seeking to please the many, but to do and fight for what is right. After all its not always that the majority are right. The big visions have not been seen by the majority, but by the commitment of a vision carrier.”
“We shall fight till we win. We shall never stop. They say winners never quit, quitters never win. Ours is a long term agenda of contributing towards a better Zambia. Individuals will come and go, but Zambia shall remain till God’s time.
All the best. Stand strong. Zambians
“No rightful court under heaven has right to deprive citizens of their freedoms. ”
But they just landed you a 6 year jail term.
Appeal and lets see what you’ve got. Where to though?. You abused the CJ. The head of the courts. You gotta be managed, son.
All the best.
Hold your head up high. These are indeed kangaroo courts….one need only look to the handling of the electoral petition. Freedom of speech is a right; these judges can not now legislate from the bench…guys, wake up before it’s too late!
The problem is that we are still ruled under UNIP mentality. Until all the old former UNIP cadres are retired, we will continue seeing such decisions from all levels of goverment.
He will talk tall the first week, then he will realize he has another 6 years and within that period no income to sustain his family and no freedom of movement.
He was on the same case as Bishop Mambo and see the reaction from the bishop when he realized that the gravity of this offense was overwhelming. The Bishop apologized to the full bench and asked for forgiveness.
Chifire here wants to sound heroic for a day. 6 Years!!! Uzamuziba Yesu, ukose … there’s nothing heroic about denigrating the rule of law under the guise of freedom of speech.
Now you have just lost all the other freedoms, movement, association, etc.
May the Lord have mercy on your soul …
To those who are supporting the rotten system out of ignorance, it is better to keep their foul mouths shut than expose their shameful ignorance publicly. All Zambians whose morals are not past all senses know that Chifire is not guilty of any crime, and his questioning of the Judgement is in the best interest of the country and the future generations. Only the corrupt do not see sense.
Most ANIMO FARMS I know Ha unrepentant.
Let’s take Chifire s case to the UN. Let’s start a crowd funding initiative for this innocent citizen
What did you do Chifire to be locked up? Give us a signal
Chifire you called the court that allowed the bank to recover money owed by Savenda as corrupt. That was wrong because the court had facts or are the owners of Savenda your relatives. When you borrow you must pay. I hope there will be enough room in your cell to allow you stand tall. By the way don’t say ” my people ” because only God owns people.
In this country people have taken freedom of speech completely out of context. There must be repercussions to carelessness. How come we do not hear all this nonsense from neighboring countries? Don’t they have problems? I think the Court has used Mr. Chifire to curtail this nonsense from all the useless “Nothing Going Ons” (NGOs).
He is clueless like his god he reasons from the CLAN’s perspective first then ISSUE second.
Chifre isn’t in prison. He was sentenced in absentia. He will come back after we retire all the dinosaurs from the Zambia judiciary
Let’s see about that when we come to do your mid term assessment…..
Unless we begin to lock up people who disregard our laws the nation will continue to be steered into the abyss by Satanists. Satan’s work is to kill, to steal and to destroy. It is good that he be destroyed before he destroys. He destroys by misinformation, arson, lies, tribalism, hatred and evil hearts with evil speech.
“Ours is a long term agenda of contributing towards a better Zambia”
I hate fake people like this fake Mothr Fckr
Bonehead, if there is anyone fake, it’s YOU!!!
Mr. Kudo, keep it clean, friend!
This is not a court. It’s a weapon
Is that Prof. HANSONI’s feeling? Let him write the UN on his University letterhead HAGAIN.
Its amazing that people like Kambwili, HH, Sunday Chanda, etc can say just about anything about our judiciary and they are left scot free. An ordinary citizen including John Mambo airs their opinion and they are threatened with all sorts of contempt. The same judiciary persecuting Mutembo was the one he was presiding over as a DPP not so long ago, look at how he is being treated now? They can send as many people to jail for contempt as they so wish but one thing is certain, tomorrow they will be in the same courts crying foul. Our laws should protect even a poor man on the street, not just politicians or those close to be powers that be. The demon we are creating today will rise up against us tomorrow.
In your opinion if someone errs we should not punish them because tomorrow we might be prosecuted too for having punished someone? Too bad people’s thinking has been politically contaminated.
HaMENTAL it is HARD to explain for them to HaUNDERSTAND issues.
There is need for sanity in sentencing our people.. This kind of sentencing that is not proportionate with crime must be looked into. It is this that creates all sorts of negative perceptions of our court systems. We hear of cases where someone stole a cooking pot and or indeed a chicken, which attracted long prison sentences.. Some of these petty crimes could translate into community service.. Our Justice system definitely needs overhaul just as our late MCS and LPM were geared to rectify it.. I appeal to ZIALE to expedite the overhaul process!
Criticizing the judges is not the same thing as holding different views about judgments. It is unethical to attack judges in person. Even attacking the entire justice system is not ethical. The freedom of expression does authorize gratuitous attacks on the person or institution. It is necessary to avoid hate speech because simple member of the public will rise against it automatically.
If this is the calibre of activists we have, then we are quite frankly f@#ked. Abusing free speech by insulting leaders is not activism but a recipe for anarchy. In Rwanda, insults became so widespread before the genocide. This created mentality that people like Chifire are fighting for Zambians’ freedom from a tyrannical regime is dangerous as no such situation exists. PF are not in power forever as Zambians have the power to put any party in office through the ballot. This attitude of confrontational politics will surely bring chaos one day. PF, upnd, MMD, NAREP, FDD, NDC, DP are all Zambians, none is special than the other. Politics is about differing in ideas with the ultimate goal of improving the country. Insults, personal attacks on character, falsehoods,malice, tribalism and hate…
…are not tenets of freedom, justice and democracy.
Azakambila kusogolo mambala.
Walking tall in exile? Come back from wherever you’re hiding if you are man enough. Next is Zambian watchdog editor Clayson Hamasaka
sometime lets learn to admit of our mistake rather than arrogance ,the only thing chifire for now should do is to be sober and repent his arrogance shall land him into many troubles
please chifire retract your statement of saying my people which people unless if u mean your family
“My ‘TONGA’ people,” CHIFIRE, or “My TRIBAL GROUPING.”
I’m saddened that an innocence person will suffer at the hands of the most corrupt judiciary in the history of Zambia.
Mr Chifire you will walk out of there a free man very soon(2021 will be the last year you will suffer).Its your jailers will be in jail much longer than the 6 years.Even the so called “security of tenure” or “presidential immunity” won’t shield them from justice.
I am glad a guilt person is going in during the most corrupt and tribal H-opposition in the history of Zambia led by HAKAINDE HICHILEMA the Privatization thief, Money laundering thief and INSIDE TRADING thief. REMEMBER, Zambia was so peaceful until it came.
I am not sorry for you Mr Chifire. Have more freedom of speech in your cell…I wish you the best in your jail term…however, I am NOT among your “people”.
It heard it’s 6years simple imprisonment
Because he could have gone in for more than 6 years. If you insult the Supreme Court who can arbitrate for you? NO ONE!
Some Zambians, especially those of the NGO ilk – and a large number of bloggers here – naively believe that freedom of speech is limitless and allows you to utter anything that pops in your head as you recover from whisky – inspired hangover, without realizing that your utterance may be harmful to your personal well-being or that of the country. In all civilized societies, perjury and contempt of court are prosecutable offences that can land one in the cooler.
It is about time the COURTS began to protect their INTEGRITY and DUTIES. Anyone saying what comes on their tribal brain must know that the court is not a place you can play games with.
In the RB days Chifire used to abuse other people’s rights. I hope this will help him reflect and repent for good.
Judges, presidents or pastors are all human beings designed to err and not free of criticism. Everybody is aware that the law is for the rich and connected while the law is foe the commoner. That, in itself is the beginning of corruption as the judiciary currently is. Even if found guilty, I think the offender should have been given a fitting sentence, this is not corrective action but punishment with a vengeance, which is not justice.
Why is it that Upnd supporters are always talking about revenging against the current officials in the event Upnd formed government? My take is that this is a minus because people only want development not meaningless vengeance.
This is just a miscarriage of judgment, we all know the judiciary is captured in the failed state, run by moroms and !doits hence the term sh!t hole govt
What Chifire wrote and said about CJ was careless to say to say the least. Tough luck son. You will probably be pardoned ‘soon’ but only after an example has been made of you. At least John Mambo apologized…
Im sure namwishiba Yesu
Amwishiba Yesu
Why are they not arresting or sueing CK for calling lungu a corrupt pompwe theif ??
You’re in UK and you can call Theresa May names and nothing will happen to you. But go to the Old Bailey and accuse any judge as corrupt. …I challenge you to do that. …and see what happens to you especially if like Chifire you have no facts.
Freedom of expression should not be threatened by sentences like this, Mr Chifire continue in exile, 2021 is near, when UPND form govt the case will have closed, then you can come back. Mere questioning of the how matter in question transpared during the court process can not be a sin , instead Mr Chifire could have been helped to understand how such a judgement was arrived at, it was a matter of conscience clarification and advise, not jail . We are very far from a democracy if we are to continue on a path like this. We call upon international bodies not to keep quiet but champion the cause of free speech, we can’t continue under UNIP format.
Too much expectations. You think United Nicompoops will form government?
LT, my advise is that we censor the likes of “Sharon” so as to have credible discourse on here.
I m sure there will be less fake news distributors next year. he decided to remain quite in court instead of defending himself like he is doing, at least john hamambo apologized. is keeping quite a new weapon for the fake news distributors. used and dumped like Daniel Munkombwe muselela kwakaba kujumpajumpa.
People supporting this guy, do you have evidence of the corruption of the Supreme court which led the judgement in favour of Stanbic??
You carelessly call the entire bench corrupt without facts to satiate your claims, really and you call yourself speaking for the people, which people??
Law is not rocket science, as a matter of fact that case was not even supposed to drag that long because it was settled at Arbitration. Some people are so simple, for this joke of an activist to even have sympathisers!!!
As long as one is anti pf, to those guys he’s right no matter how wrong he may be. I wonder what government they be running if that’s their mentality.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FORM GOVERNMENT 2021 WHEN HH HAS JOINED PF YOU JOB IS COUNTING TERMS FROM 2021 TO 2026
Interpol will soon catch with him. He will be in chimbokaila sooner than he anticipated.