MMD chairperson for Communications and Transport Peter Daka has said it was not obligatory and a must for Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to have shaken hands with Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata.
Mr Daka who is also Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister said every person by virtue of being a human had rights and Mr Justice Sakala had personal rights whether to shake hands with people or not because it was not compulsory.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Daka said Mr Sata should know that Mr Justice Sakala was obliged to accept his personal choice and his refusal to shake hands with him was a personal decision that should not be politicised.
“Chief Justice Sakala has personal rights whether he should greet people or not because it depends on what he wants based on his individual capacity and why should Mr Sata politicise the whole issue.
“He should stop making politics whenever he goes for funerals and should have respect for everybody,” Mr Daka said.
Mr Sata should know that Mr Justice Sakala was a respectable person in the country because of his high integrity and he should desist from dragging him into cheap politics.
He said it was time Mr Sata thought of retiring from active politics instead of attacking high ranked officials for no apparent reasons and always wanting to gain political mileage whenever he went for a funeral.
And former Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Edward Mumbi has accused the PF/UPND Pact of conspiring with The Post to instill fear in judges and neutralise the independence of the Judiciary.
Mr Mumbi said in a statement yesterday that it was immoral to attack people who could not defend themselves.
He was also commenting on the story that the chief justice refused to shake hands with Mr Sata.
He said objective people could read through a conspiracy by the pact and The Post to discredit the chief justice because his refusal to greet anyone was not newsworthy.
“People will soon see discredited people who will be used to discredit the judiciary. These criticisms are merely serving selfish political ends for leaders in the PF/UPND Pact,” he said.
He said the PF/UPND Pact was planning to disturb the Judiciary as Zambia approaches elections because there was a plan to defame people and engage in violence, which would attract litigation.
President Banda said to justify the conspiracy, The Post had even gone to an extent of publishing a picture of former president Frederick Chiluba shaking hands with Mr Justice Sakala, which had nothing to do with the case at hand.
He said when former Kasama MP Saviour Chishimba petitioned Mr Sata’s presidential candidature, Mr Justice Sakala was still the chief justice and the courts allowed him to contest.
The PF leader recently won another case in the courts and he praised the courts for their independence but because of his inconsistency he had now changed.
And a Lusaka lawyer Christopher Mundia said the encounter between Mr Justice Sakala and Mr Sata did not warrant political insinuations because the two were traditional cousins.
“I have known the current chief justice for many years having worked with him closely in the national group and do not believe that he intended to offend Mr Sata but purely a light moment between the two cousins as Bembas and Ngonis have always joked at many funerals,” he said.
Mr Mundia said to use the encounter to embarrass the chief justice was unfortunate because political hatred brewing in the country could later explode to unimaginable magnitude.
Although the incident happened at a funeral, the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) should do everything possible to defend the Judiciary.
He said the chief justice did not mean to offend Mr Sata but it was just a light moment between the two traditional cousins.
