Sacked Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Lilian Siyuni has asked the Constitutional Court to declare as ´null and void´ all the decisions leading to her ´illegal´widely publicised dismissal.
A respected prosecutor, Ms Siyuni has further asked the highest court in the land to consider compensating her for all the injustice she has suffered during the lengthy period that eventually led to her public dismissal by President Hakainde Hichilema.
In public court filings made by her Lawyers AMC Legal Practitioners, Ms Siyuni argues that the Vincent Malambo led Judicial Complaints Commission (JCC) lacked legal merit on the following as they recommended her dismissal:
• JCC did note make available or information or evidence to all parties in her case as required by law.
• JCC allowed ´new’ evidence to be adduced against her (DPP) long after the closure of the case, against the law.
• JCC illegally stopped evidence that could have supported her or was in her favour during the proceeding.
• The JCC quorum was not “legally” constituted and is at variance with the law (she has cited in court documents) documents any decision made by an illegal quorum is null and void.
• President Hichilema who was supposed to reject her application for a waiver for her immunity to be lifted did not do so in writing and in his “own signature” as required by law so any directive he made via the Attorney General to deny her a waiver is null and void and lacks legal backing.
• The Attorney General´s failure to prosecute the case as required by law makes the whole proceeding legally worthless and ought to be considered as a breach.
• The JCC decision to proceed and make a determinartion to punish her (DPP) in the face of an illness proven by law and the death of her father makes the entire outcome a farce and mockery of justice.
Hh is playing with the wrong person. Siyinyi is not dumb like upnd supporters.
she will embarrass this government. Watch her win these cases against the state. Girl power
No you dummy. The DPP is an executive officer. The president can fire the DPP for any reason, or for no reason. In this case he waited for unnecessary legal justification from the JCC to minimise political fallout. No court in Zambia can tell a president who to hire as foreign, defense, finance minister. Equally, no court tell the president who to hire as DPP. This delusional and desperate woman is wasting her time.
The law says that the president is the head of the executive and he can fire any officer in the executive, case closed. This is not the business of the court or the parliament. It is the strict purview the president.
It is over mama, your time has come.
Iam not your fan but I’m behind you all the way. I want to see the rule of law.
The problem is that many of our Laws are crafted in such a manner that they don’t offer solutions or directions when you need them most. A DPP is appointed by a sitting President and is ratified by Parliament, why should the appointing authority have difficulties to revoke that appointment? If Siyuni needs to defend herself, why should she require the permission of somebody to do that? If it’s the appointing authority that accuses the appointed the Law must provide that the accused defends themselves without any consequences. Now our speculation is that both Siyuni and HH have done something wrong which they’re trying to hide behind the Law. This isn’t good. Please clear the air
You should have just negotiated your exit madam. The work environment would have not been friendly for you had you continued as DPP.
Let us see were this is going, because she has rise serious issues ati The JCC quorum was not “legally” constituted and is at variance with the law (she has cited in court documents) documents any decision made by an illegal quorum is null and void.if this is true its gonna be an embarrassment to the power in charge.
Yes her points seem very sound. I think she will win the case
The president did not need the JCC to fire hire. He needed only to decide to so.
Siyuni’s ousting as DPP was motivated by KCM, HH needed to recapitalise the mine and said so several times. The case highlighted that State agencies from Solicitor General, Attorney General and State House representatives did agree with liquidator’ lawyers to offer immunity and for liquidator’ to resign. That’s not in doubt at all, we have seen affidavits that address the same.
The issue here remains that constitution says DPP should not be under the control of any person. If DPP chose to continue prosecuting, she would have been ousted either way.
We need to find a way of making DPP, AG and SG be directly voted into office by fellow lawyers or citizens.
There are only 3 branches of government. The are the executive, the judiciary and the legislative. The DPP, AG and SG are members of the executive. They represent the president. Suggesting that these people be voted by someone, is creating a separate branch of the government and triggering anarchy. The check on the president’s power is from the judiciary and the legislature. In this case, he fired one of his subordinates. The DPP reports to and serves at his pleasure. This is why there is nothing to talk about. This woman is gone, and not a moment too soon.
I am for lady Siyuni……Its is clear that she is being dumped after being used. The issue of Milingo will never go away. There was no way the DPP was going to give Mulingo immunity without the knowledge of those guys at state house. Something is definately fishy? And for sure one day it shall come out.
Take the issue up in parliament, or file a lawsuit. Beyond that, the president does not need a reason in order to fire his foreign minister, and he does not need any justification in order to fire the DPP. He simply needs to decide to do so, and he has met the legal requirement.
The problem is that the Zambian Constitution gives too much power to the sitting President. It’s better to amendment it.
If the law was not followed in dismissing her then she has every right to fight her case. The best thing to do in such a case is to negotiate some sort of settlement so that you can leave amicably with a good sum thereby leaving the state also free to appoint someone else.
The DPP is a representative of the president. There is no law which says that she should be the one he hires as DPP. He does not need a reason to fire her. He is the head of the executive branch of government. Just as he can fire the defense minister when he wants, he can fire the DPP at his whim.
IT WAS A FOREGONE VERDICT.
SET UP YOUR OWN LAW FIRM AND MAKE YOURSELF WEALTHY
If she embarrasses the government, she will be more respected in her law firm. One wonders why the JCC would leave all these gaps. If they didn’t follow procedure she is carrying the day. I’m not saying she’s innocent, but it will be good if the government is embarrassed, so that they learn to put their house in order for these cases instead of wasting our resources
Glad, she is coming in hot. We badly need her to upheld rule of law in this country, Down with the law of Man. As for AG, advise the Government to televise the hearing. Take a leaf from Kenya election dispute. Lies, exploding with anger and hate will not take us anywhere.
There is no court in the country that can make president hire her. The Executive is not accountable to the judiciary in its functioning or hiring practises. If HH has done wrong in firing her, the only place where he can be made to pay for it is the polls.
The incompetence of the UPND government at its best.you have one Gilbert Phiri appointed Director of ACC in the morning then appointed as DPP in the evening.who is advising the President?
No court in Zambia can tell the president who to hire in his executive. The court cannot tell the president who to appoint as foreign minister. This stupid lawsuit is null and void. The DPP is an executive officer who serves at the pleasure of the president. He does not need justification to fire the DPP. He needs parliamentary ratification to hire, but not to fire. The president cannot tell the parliament who to appoint as speaker; the judiciary also runs its affairs independent of the president. This delusional woman will lose this case, and I hope she loses it with prejudice so that she is made to pay the court costs. If the PF court tries to step into the president’s area of power, and says he needs to keep her, I hope he tell them to go to hell.