Tuesday, October 8, 2024

President Hakainde Hichilema was Never on Death Row

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By Wynter M. Kabimba, ODS, SC

In my last Facebook write up I concluded it by throwing a caution to the reader that we should brace ourselves for more lies from HH and UPND. I was not wrong as HH would prove during his speech at the State House luncheon he hosted to mark what he calls the abolition of the death penalty on Wednesday 28th December 2022.

I was dismayed to hear HH make claim to the fact that he knew that there were Zambian prisoners who had been wrongly executed under the death penalty in the past when they were actually innocent. How did he know this? Because he himself was once on death row at Mukobeko Maximum Prison, he told his audience. I saw the cameras zoom on the Chief Justice. Really? If HH had asked for a written brief from his legal team, he would have been advised that he was never on death row but I am sure he did not bother to do so. Like he has done in the past, he wants to intentionally and deliberately run with this narrative that he is a treason hero. I, therefore, disagreed with a UPND friend of mine who said that HH’s statement was one made out of ignorance by a layman. A man like him whose desire is to write and doctor his autobiography during the lifetime of all those who know his past is nothing but a pathological liar. His insatiable appetite for reconstructing his political image is unquenchable.

On the same day as HH was making his outrageous remarks, CNN and BBC were running a story of one George Santos, a Republican congressman who recently won an election in New York on a falsified resume. Santos had made claims that he was a university graduate and that he had worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup when in fact not.

He also falsely said he was of Jewish Heritage. Although there is a parallel between the two stories, as a lie is a lie, there is growing pressure on Santos to resign his congressional seat while for HH who is occupying the highest position in the land, his on-going lies whether in economics when he repeatedly says that he took over government in August, 2021 when the Dollar- Kwacha rate was 1:24 when the actual rate was 1:17 or in politics that he is a death row survivor are simply glossed over by society at large. Is it any wonder that it is such want of honesty and integrity in leadership at the highest level that our progress is hampered as a country. At what point should we call to heel a president, minister or even a clergyman who intentionally lies or falsifies what he is or is not?

I consulted the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary for the meaning of the term “death row.’’ It is given as “part of a prison where people who have been sentenced to death are kept’’ HH was never tried and convicted of treason and consequently sentenced to death, so the definition disqualifies him immediately. Let him leave such a claim to Edward Shamwana or Nelson Mandela.

29 COMMENTS

  1. So imwe ba Kabimba you have no common sense and all you have is common nonsense.

    HH was in prison on a charge of treason; now what mandatory sentence does that charge carry? Iyo kwena muli ba quack lawyer, ka!

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    • You are only on death row after conviction. That was but a charge and it wasnt even formulated. Wynter is very right

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    • At the height of Sata’s sickness, it was said that he was abruptly flown abroad for treatment and wasn’t in a condition a handover power to anyone. Guy Scott as VP couldn’t act as President, so Wynter was said to have assumed that role although even if there was no proof that Sata appointed him. When Wynter fell out of favour, there were calls by some quarters to have him arrested and be charged with treason because what he did was illegal. In fact, it was said that was one of the reasons he was unceremoniously fired. If Sata had heeded those calls and had Wynter arrested and charged as demanded, is the State Counsel certain that he was going to get out of that trial without a death penalty?

  2. Death row is one of the judgements a Judge can pass on a treason convict. You’re a Lawyer you know that. If I committed an aggravated offence and I claim that I was facing 20 years to life imprisonment, would I be lying? Inkalenifye imwe.

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    • @William, brother, even if you really, really, really trying your best to defend someone, your effort is really pathetic and shameful. Why are you trying so hard to stretch the truth and bend logic? All for what, politics’ sake!?

      FACING a 20yr SENTENCE is NOT the same as SERVING that same SENTENCE. To be on death row, you must have been CHARGED of a crime, TRIED of a crime, found GUITY of a crime that calls for the PUNISHMENT OF DEATH, and then SENTENCED and sent to DEATH ROW. That is the process that both, Edward Shamwana (in Zambia) and Nelson Mandela (in South Africa) went through, NOT HH. You sit on death row until you exhaust all your appeal prcases (and in most death penalty cases, if not all, appeals are authentic,) then if all appeals fail that is when you have your date…

    • Continue….

      with the hangman. So bhululu, HH was intentionally LYING. And it is SAD there are people like you who want to defend his exaggerated sense of importance in our Country’s history. Which is, quite frankly, pathetic!

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  3. Ba HH is a pathological liar. That is why he cant live in State House because he is scared his successor will discover his even bigger lies. In New Kasama he can destroy all classified documents without the Secret Service knowing.

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  4. Ba Summer, the man was very clear to say he was ‘technically’ on death row. Just enroll for Englich courses instead of misleading yourself because at least everybody knew what he meant, mark the word ‘technically’

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    • Whenever HH holds a press conference, I always imagine this man sitting in front of his tv intently looking just for mistakes.If so much as a fly passes past HH’s face, that will be his topic of the week.Him and his Meembe have become so petty.Almost childlike

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  5. That is the caliber of your opposition in Zambia, instead of talking about bread-and-butter issues which Zambians are concerned about and maybe going round the country mobilizing their nonexistent parties, the opposition in Zambia pick nonissues, which cannot put on the table of a common Zambia and make an issue.

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  6. It is disrespectful to the people of Zambia, disrespectful because BMW apparently assumes that we are all dull and don’t follow events. This garbage can only be swallowed by praise singers who believe in all the garbage their god spults.

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  7. Ba Winter, HH meant that the situation he was in was leading to process of being tried and convicted of treason. Are you also disputing that he was charged with treason, a grave offence that can result in one being on death row? As State Counsel, you should exercise restraint in calling other people liars, etc. As for the exchange rate, it was always fluctuating, such that at one time before ascendancy of UPND, the parity of the Dollar to Kwacha was 1:24.

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  8. We have a liar of a president in Community House. He ascended to that position through lies. He has continued lying even in his presidency. It is a pity that the gullible are calling him the best president in Zambia.How best is he when all he talks are lies?

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  9. We will give you more money in your pockets in 90 days, we will lower taxes and give you more jobs – PF 2011. Zero delivery

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  10. I have only assessed Wynter Kabimba as among the nations uninspiring dull lawyers! Did he want HH to maybe state he was destined to death row with the treason charge the PF regime had slapped on him? ECL had vowed “Nkamukaka!” Is it semantics that people want to keep debating as if they are educated but lack common sense? Talk to people in rural areas to understand common sense and I end my comment here!

  11. Wynter kabimba is a wasted investment as far as FREE law training that was Given to him by KK. According to the provisions, the punishment for 5reason case at the time HH was arrested was death penalty. Kabimba must be a fake lawyer

  12. Please the truth of the matter is that HH has never been on death row. period He has never been convicted on treason charge. . In fact, the former DPP entered a nolle prosequi in his case and he was subsequently discharged from Mukobeko Maxim Security Prison. An inmate is considered to be on the death row if he is convicted of a capital offence like treason or murder, he appeals to the Supreme Court against his conviction and his appeal is dismissed. This did not happen to HH, so why argue with Kabimba?The man was right.

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  13. In simple mathematics. HH was added to those with treason cases and was just later subtracted or removed from the list. So when one is discharged from mukobeko it doesn’t mean that one had not been on the treason case that attracts death penalty.

  14. It’s good that the dull scribe membe was just asking whether HH was on the death list. The truth is that HH was arrested and added to the list of those with the treason cases that attracted the death penalty. Luckily HH was removed from the list after serious legal battle which saddened the pf that wanted the implementation of the treason case -death penalty

  15. Every word that a President utters must be scrutinesed and teste for truth or lack of it. This is so because the position carries a lot of far-reaching consequences which can enhance or destroy the ‘treasure.’ The issue of providing a critique to presidential utterances and actions should not be trivialised on party positions, feelings or preferences, but is an essential and undebatable prerequisite for the existence of true democracy. Those who love the President, and more so our country, should always uphold and practice FACT CHECKING everything our leaders say, for the good of our nation – now and in future.

  16. Every word that a President utters must be scrutinesed and TESTED for truth or lack of it. This is so because the position carries a lot of far-reaching consequences which can enhance or destroy the ‘treasure.’ The issue of providing a critique to presidential utterances and actions should not be trivialised on party positions, feelings or preferences, but is an essential and undebatable prerequisite for the existence of true democracy. Those who love the President, and more so our country, should always uphold and practice FACT CHECKING everything our leaders say, for the good of our nation – now and in future. Long live our President, long live Zambia, and long live true Democrcy.

  17. Every word that a President utters must be scrutinesed and TESTED for truth or lack of it. This is so because the position carries a lot of far-reaching consequences which can enhance or destroy the ‘treasure.’ The issue of providing a critique to presidential utterances and actions should not be trivialised on party positions, feelings or preferences, but is an essential and undebatable prerequisite for the existence of true democracy. Those who love the President, and more so our country, should always uphold and practice FACT CHECKING everything our leaders say, for the good of our nation – now and in future.

    Long live the President, long live Zambia, and long live true Democracy.

  18. Wena Kabimba, why do you look like you are living on death row yourself? And by the way, why do you have red lips, are you a snake? Or maybe you kissed somewhere where they do not kiss, unyelile kanamunungu kamutu tuwe!

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