Friday, March 29, 2024

Sangwa challenges Government to take to parliament a bill that will allow the advertising of the position of Chief Justice

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Constitutional lawyer John Sangwa has challenged the UPND government to take to parliament a bill that will allow the advertising of the position of Chief Justice if such a law does not exist.

Recently, Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe said Mr. Sangwa’s suggestion to have the position of the chief justice publicly advertised cannot be effected as it does not exist in the Zambian constitution.

But speaking when he featured on Tuesday’s edition of Phoenix FM’s “let the people talk programme”, Mr. Sangwa argues that advertising of the position of chief justice and judges should have begun in 2016 when the new constitution was accented to.

Mr. Sangwa said since President Hakainde Hichilema has promised to raise the standards of people in appointed positions, he should willingly do things differently from his predecessor by ensuring qualified people are picked as chief justice and judges through an interview.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sangwa has confirmed receiving a reply from president Hichilema to a letter he sent the head of state on the need to subject the appointment of the chief justice and judges to a transparent process.

He has however said he will not open the letter as it was replied to by the Justice Minister and is marked secret when the debate at hand is not secret.

20 COMMENTS

  1. IF THE CATFISH TELLS YOU THE CROCODILE IS SICK BELIEVE HIM. BECAUSE THEY ALL DWELL IN WATER. COUNSEL SANGWA AND FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. JUSTICE IN ZAMBIA IS FOR AUCTION. THE HIGHEST BIDDER WINS

  2. Good that he has refused to open the letter. This is now a matter of public debate, let the government air it’s position publicly too.
    HH has another press conference today, savvy journalists ought to ask him about this and let’s see his response.

  3. I like this guy. That’s all I can say for now. Fact there is no law doesn’t mean you are dealing with a religious text that is dogmatic. Enact laws that will suit the times, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is why we still have very silly laws from Federation days.

  4. The UPND has a chance to be seen as a listening government here. Why would they be opposed to transparency measures in appointments? And no, the Constitution cannot possibly have a provision for interviewing someone, it is but a road map that accords the institutions creativity in applying fairness, equality and professionalism. Why the minister of Justice would say there is no provision is beyond me, what happens to brilliant lawyers when they start politics?

  5. Missed call…so this man was hoping to be the next chief justice….he seems to be very disappointed and left out….

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  6. Let the new dawn government govern. There are too many advisors who were never appointed advisors. HH is a competent tonga man who knows what he is doing. Give us tongas a break. We have only been in power for few months. Non of you spoke this way when Iungu was in power. Give tongas a break

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  7. Just wait Kambwili will be vindicated. This Man HH is going thru a lot of pressure from his people. They want jobs and are trying so hard to discriminate others. Don’t expect anything good from HH apart from saying you’ll see.He is too pompous to govern this country.I see this country to be a failed state because this too much vengeance in UPND govt and it’s people.I hope Zambia won’t be split in less than 3 years.Watch the space.

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  8. Trying to re-write the constitution outside parliament let a private member bill be moved or petition your MP…in the US there are primary elections for President then follows a president debate ….I think this is good so I challenge government to take a bill to parliament to introduce primaries and a debate .,,

  9. When I first heard of this suggestion by SC Sangwa I was apprehensive but when I watched him on Muvi TV articulately explan I saw sense in this ….if this govt is truly stands for transparency and accountability this is the way forward we need more public scrutiny not closed door rubber standing of everything.

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  10. Tarino orange @6, what do you mean by give us tongas a break?
    Is this about gorvening the country or about Tongas?
    Then kambwili is very correct to say that Tongas are tribal. He is vindicated and Iam actually shocked and disappointed.

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  11. Is it tribal to speak the facts about how things were and how they should be? Are you refusing that tongas were treated badly? You and kambwili can go to hell

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  12. John Sangwa’s proposal must be taken seriously if we are to begin reforms in the Judiciary. The behavior of some judges is indicative of a lack of independence. They seem to behave in a certain manner towards eminent personalities, obviously to lobby for positions or promotion. For how did they agree that ECL was eligible to stand in the last elections? I’m sure they must be regretting that judgement. So the criteria we use to appoint them will affect how they’ll dispense justice. Unfortunately our judiciary is in a sorry state at the moment. The fact that international litigants prefer to be heard in South Africa is an indictment on our judiciary

  13. I think Sangwa was just expecting a response coming from the President, he is refusing to read the letter, because he thinks he is above the Minister Of Justice, and that is wrong. I don’t think the HH Government will REFUSE to go the way Sangwa is suggesting, however, Sangwa must know that this process will mean adjusting the constitution, which in itself requires long time. For that matter, the constitution can NOT be updated based on one item from Sangwa. That would only happen in the Chipantepante government by PF. This global view to make amendments to the constitution will take long. This, EFFECTIVELY MEANS, the current CJ position can NOT be fulfilled based on Sangwa suggestion, its ideal for the next CJ in X years to come. But yes, the process can start now and WILLbe started.

  14. Tongas are on a roller coaster…..No one will stop them. You had your time . This time is ours ….in the saddle. You may like it or not but the fact is we have a TONGA president in state house. The hour has come!!!

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  15. @ Tarino you are as sick as Kambwili when it comes to tribal talk. If anything i wouldn’t be surprised if you are one and the same on this platform. Luckily, you will never succeed in dividing the nation along tribal lines. We know you are PF and want to convince gullible people like Issacher to regret voting in UPND.

  16. Coming to Sangwa, one would have thought you knew what you were talking about. To think that you also didn’t know we have no such provision in our constitution makes one wonder if you are just lazy to do your research in your subject area or you are just a vuvuzela seeking attention. We would understand if your concern was coming as a proposal for improvement instead of a criticism.

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