Lusaka lawyer Sakwiba Sikota and former Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Stephen Lungu have said Zambia is among the few countries in the world where the judiciary operates without any form of interference from the Government.
Mr Lungu said during his presidency at LAZ he did not receive any indications from judiciary officials or LAZ members of any interference directly or indirectly from the Government or President Rupiah Banda.
The allegation that President Banda was interfering with the judiciary was published in The Post Newspaper and attributted to former task force on corruption executive chairperson, Maxwell Nkole while Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata has also made such allegations regularly.
Mr Lungu said he could not remember handling any complaint at LAZ during his tenure of office to validate the statement issued by Mr Nkole.
And Mr Sikota said Mr Sata and Mr Nkole should avoid misleading Zambians, adding that there were institutions in Zambia that were set up specifically to deal with complaints against anyone infringing on the operations of the judiciary.
He said the Judicial Complaints Authority, office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, office of the Chief Justice, the Judiciary and LAZ were responsible for hearing complaints where someone had evidence that there was interference in a particular case.
Mr Sikota said it was unfortunate that some people were in the habit of making empty statements on sensitive issues without facts.
Special assistant to the president for Press and public relations, Dickson Jere this week described Mr Nkole’s statement that appeared in The Post as demeaning to the president and insulting to the judiciary.
Mr Jere said President Banda strongly believed in the doctrine of separation of powers which underpins the independence of the judiciary from the other two arms of Government – the executive and the legislature.
[ Times of Zambia ]
Does LAZ expect the Chief Justice Sakala to go and complain to them when RB asked him to aquit FTJ. He gets paid by RB so how can he go and report him?
Thiese two lawers are either mad or very s.t.u.p.I.d and f.o.o.l.I.s.h. People because a normal person can not make such statements.
THE TWO LAYERS ARE THINKUNG WITH THEIR STOMACH
Shameless lawyers!!! In liberal & forward thinking countries, Lawyers, experts in their profession, in that they UNDERSTAND THE LAW THEY PRACTICE & THE CONSTITUTION, tend to lead the questioning of Govt, rather than support a govt, that is heinously culpable!! Stephen Lungu for one should be ashamed of himself, it has taken the new LAZ president to advocate the termination of tenure of the DPP, & yet so glaringly & unashamedly he stands atop a hill & shouts out loud, that this govt DOESN’T INTERFERE; well mate, tell that to your pets at home, am sure you will be believed 100%!!!
As for Sakwiba, what can one say, he became a politician along time ago, not surprising that with such antics, perhaps UPND for once got it right by giving him the boot!!!
Eish, you areare doing our collective heads in. Saki, Steven Mkondo Lungu, shut the f up.Â
LET RUPIAH DO A POLYGRAPH TEST FOR ALL ACCUSATIONS.
I FIND IT HAD TO TRUST GRZ CONTROLLED MEDIA. tHESE PEOPLE WILL DENY MAKING SUCH STATEMENTS BUT THE MEDIA IS THE CULPRIT. THESE SO CALLED JOURNALISTS ARE JUST A CROP OF HUNGRY PSEUDO PROFESSIONALS. THE PROFESSION IS NOW ZOMBISIED.
as for me Times of Zambia, Daily Mail and ZNBC, and Watchdog are all MMD not beneficial to me Will never trust them I wish to call them Tra………..h
Iwe Sakwiba na ka lungu shut up! Nkole is a learned Lawyer there is no way that he could have made such allegations without checking his facts. Twalicha nomba fwe ma Zambian’s we are also able to see with our naked eyes what goes on. all those organs are appointed by the president and are expected to be loyal. Independence of Judiciary is therefore not there.
Whist there is the seperation of powers in Zambia its not true that this has been free from the executive and legislature.Even in developed countries like the UK it is hard to say it is 100% independent of interference from gvt
RB at one of his press conferences is on record of saying that it only took him 5 minutes to call Chief Justice after Dora had been petitioned for her wrongs in Zamtel scandal. Why would the president tell the CJ how to do his job. To me this is interference. Then we have Judge Musonda ‘s questionable ruling in the Dora case and now the man has been rewarded through a promotion to the Supreme Court.
the judiciary is not independent we all know that, people prefer to sort out matters out of court these days even criminal cases like defilement and fraud are been settled out of court. the period for justice is long and tiring. mpombo s case was fast but the lucy lady s case never took of. stephen lungu and sakwiba are both my relatives but am sorry stephen lungu is the worst laz president ever. sakwiba does nt stand for anything, he just hangs in the air waiting for a job maybe. he has failed to build a brand of his own. he has no meaning and has just resorted to bootlicking. what a waste of education.
Can someone please confirm the news on Dear Zambia that GBM has collapsed after arguing with Sata?
Who else would you want to hear it from? Steven is a credible fellow, I know him personally as we were in the same intake at the University. Sikota is another well established lawyer. Nkole is saffering from a lot of things including poor health….and yamunyokola njala!
Chief Puta is the one who claimed RB promised him or the people of Luapula that he would “free” Katele Kalumba as he had done for FTJ etc. Why can’t Jere take the chief to task over this claim? Nkole was only saying that the silence on the chief’s claim raises questions about possible RB interference in the judiciary. Why don’t we deal with the source of the story?
Once you complain about your master’s conduct, twice you are shown the door. :d