FORMER Taskforce prosecutor Mutembo Nchito acted illegally when he appealed against the acquittal of former president Fredrick Chiluba last year by disregarding a directive of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

According to correspondence obtained by the Times of Zambia, DPP Chalwe Mchenga had on August 21 last year directed that the appeal against Dr Chiluba should not be lodged until after he had studied the judgement to determine whether or not the appeal should go ahead.

But Mr Nchito went ahead to appeal against the judgement on instruction from the then Taskforce chairperson Max Nkole despite the directive from Mr Mchenga.

After the appeal was made, Mr Mchenga wrote to the Taskforce’s new executive chairperson Godfrey Kayukwa and stated that the decision to appeal was against his express directive and a contravention of the law.

“Section 86(3) of the criminal procedure code provides that every prosecution shall be subject to the express directions of the director of public prosecutions.

“The decision by your predecessor to instruct Mr Nchito to file the notice was against my express directions and was in contravention of the law and illegal,” said Mr Mchenga in a letter dated August 26.

The former Taskforce prosecutor has been summoned by the Law association of Zambia (LAZ) legal practitioners to answer complaints raised against him by Dr Chiluba and his former Press aide Richard Sakala.
[pullquote]“To resolve the difficulty the court relied on the well established principle of criminal law that where two or more inferences can be drawn from a set of facts, the court must adopt one which is more favourable to an accused person if there is nothing to exclude such inference,” he said.[/pullquote]

Mr Nchito has written to LAZ’s legal practitioners committee informing them that the only authority that could question his decisions was the DPP and that he never received any complaint on his decision to appeal against the acquittal.

Mr Nchito appears before the committee at LAZ offices tomorrow at 12.00 hours but he has raised objections in his letter to LAZ dated May 13, 2010 in which he has indicated that he was a gazetted public prosecutor and enjoys protection as provided for by the Constitution.

He also contested that the DPP has not complained about the matter and reminded Dr Chiluba that he was not the spokesperson of the DPP.

But in his letter to Mr Kayukwa, Mr Mchenga said having read through the judgment, there was essentially one reason why Dr Chiluba and his co-accused were acquitted of theft in nine counts of the indictment.

“It is because the evidence before the court shows that the account (Zamtrop Account) from which the money alleged to have been stolen, was also received money from “private sources’.

There was un-controverted evidence that money in excess of US$8,500,000 was paid into the account from sources other than Government at the material times,” Mr Mchenga states in the letter.

He said from the evidence before the court, it was not clear whether the money the accused persons are alleged to have stolen in the counts in which they were acquitted came from Government sources or from private sources.

“To resolve the difficulty the court relied on the well established principle of criminal law that where two or more inferences can be drawn from a set of facts, the court must adopt one which is more favourable to an accused person if there is nothing to exclude such inference,” he said.

Since on the evidence before it was not possible to indicate whether the money drawn was from Government funds or private source, the court was therefore bound to draw the inference that the money drawn was that which came from the private source, an inference was favourable to the accused persons.

He said this being the case, the court had no option but to acquit them.

His Excellency, Mr. Rupiah Banda, President of the Republic of Zambia, on Wednesday announced changes to his Government and appointed Lundazi Member of Parliament Hon. Mukondo Lungu, MP, as new Minister of Home Affairs.

The appointment of Hon. Lungu, current Deputy Chairperson of Committees of the Whole House in Parliament, is with immediate effect.

“In exercise of the powers vested in me pursuant to the provisions of Article 46(1) of the Constitution of Zambia, Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia, I hereby appoint you Minister of Home Affairs with immediate effect,” President Banda said in his letter to Hon. Lungu.

The President said he has revoked the appointment of Hon. Lameck Mangani, MP, as Minister of Home Affairs and has reappointed him as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training. President Banda thanked Hon. Mangani for the service he rendered to the nation during the period he served as Minister of Home Affairs.

Further, the President has transferred Hon. David Phiri, MP, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning to be one of the two Deputy Ministers.

President Banda has also transferred Hon. Chrispin Musosha, MP, to the Ministry of Education where he will take over from Hon. Richard Taima, MP, who has been moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs in the same capacity.
________________________________________________________________________
Issued by:

Dickson Jere
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Zambia’s Competition Commission approved the takeover of Zain’s unit in the country by Bharti Airtel Ltd., it said.

The deal was approved by the commission’s board at a meeting yesterday and should be completed within six months, the Commission said in an e-mailed statement today.

Zain Zambia had 3.1 million customers as of December 2009, the company said on Feb. 23.

Mobile Telecommunications Co., which runs the Zain network, agreed March 30 to sell its assets in 15 African countries to Bharti for $9 billion.

Gabon’s government said last month it won’t block the acquisition of the Zain unit in the country. The Republic of Congo said April 13 it may block the deal in its country because Zain failed to provide advance notification.

–Editors: Emily Bowers, Antony Sguazzin

To contact the reporter on this story: Obert Simwanza in Lusaka via Johannesburg at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.

[Bloomberg]

Mapatizya Member of Parliament, Ackson Sejani has charged that the close relationship between president, Rupiah Banda and second republican president, Dr Fredrick Chiluba will greatly cost the nation.

Mr. Sejani said President Banda should realize that Zambians are not interested in his relationship with Dr. Chiluba.

He said Dr. Chiluba’s alleged corrupt background leaves much to be desired and that it worries Zambians to see the head state have a close relationship with the former president.

Mr . Sejani e noted that the close relationship between president Banda and Dr Chiluba clearly demonstrates that the MMD government is no longer interested in fighting corruption and is ready to embrace people accused of plundering the nation’s resources.

He said it is evident that president Banda does not want to deal with the corruption in the government despite promising to uphold the legacy of his late predecessor Levy Mwanawasa.
[ QFM ]

THE 2009 Auditor General’s report has revealed that the Road Development Agency (RDA) irregularly awarded a contract to a firm that was allegedly suspended from participating in Government contracts.

The report stated that China Geo Engineering Corporation was allegedly suspended in accordance with the Zambia National Tender Board circular number 1 of 2008.

The works in question were done on the Zimba-Livingstone Road in Southern Province where other anomalies such as lack of a laboratory facility for the works were realised despite being part of the agreement.

The absence of the laboratory contributed to delays to complete the projects.
The Auditor General’s report also revealed that RDA wasted more than K81 billion paid to Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) on works related to the Mongu-Kalabo Road in Western Province.

The report says that the RDA entered into a contract with CCC to purchase the contractor’s camp site at K1.6 billion but the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) refused to pay for it since it was outside its mandate.

Consequently, CCC claimed K2.6 billion as costs for maintaining the campsite and the RDA incurred cumulated interest expenses totaling K3.6 billion.

The RDA further imported 40 bailey bridges at a contract cost of US$13.1 million at a time when there was no design for the road to support the use of the bridges.

The audit also said that although the RDA bought off-loading equipment for Mongu-Kalabo Road, there were no records to indicate the cost and date of purchase.

Although the contract was for 250 hours, the contractor claimed 850 hours and was paid more than K1.2 billion which was K895 million in excess of the contract sum of K398 million.

In Southern Province, the RDA awarded a contract to China-Geo Engineering to work on the Zimba-Livingstone Road at the time when the contractor was suspended from participating in Government contracts.

On the same project more than K48 million was misapplied to repair RDA motor vehicles that were not part of the project resulting in over-expenditure by K114 million.

On the emergency repair of the Lusitu Bridge in Siavonga it was that the bill of quantities included trees that did not exist while the thickness of the asphalt was not specified.

[Times of Zambia]

The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has backed calls that anyone found perpetuating violence should be brought to book and dealt with in accordance with the law.

LAZ has also said it supports calls that the Electoral Code of Conduct should be amended to give more authority to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to effectively deal with vices such as the violence seen in the last Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election.

LAZ president Stephen Lungu said this in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday.
He said LAZ will try to seek audience with political leaders for further discussion on the quest for peace, which the nation wants guaranteed by 2011.

“We, therefore, join all right-meaning members of the public in condemning the recent violence which characterised the by-elections in Mufumbwe,” Mr Lungu said.

He said the 2011 general elections are near, and it would be folly to presume that there is no risk of a repeat of the recently reported violence on a larger scale.

“We must as a people take proactive steps to curb a repeat of what happened in the by-election. We must as a people make a deliberate decision to say no to violence of any kind.

“We must take all steps necessary to ensure that the incidents that happened in Mufumbwe in the last by-elections do not repeat themselves. We must decide to act now to ensure that these vices do not recur in this beloved country,” Mr Lungu said.

He said the nation wants to see a day when the election language by political leaders is not personal, but that of national development and the public’s direct beneficial interest.

Mr Lungu said Zambians must strive to ensure that the exchange of vulgar and abusive language during campaigns and general acts to demean and belittle each other publicly come to an end.

He said abusive language, derogatory remarks and publicly-demonstrated violence send a wrong signal to the younger generation, who are the leaders of tomorrow.
[ Zambia Daily Mail ]

FIVE people yesterday died on the spot and more than 15 were seriously injured when a Toyota Hiace minibus in which they were travelling was hit from behind by a beer-laden truck and trailer which lost control on Nkana Road in Ndola.

And scores of Ndola residents who scrambled for the crates of beer after the accident were stung by a swarm of bees that swooped on the spilled beer.

Ndola District police chief Stella Libongani, who was found at the accident scene, said police had retrieved five bodies of the dead while the 15 people who injured had been taken to Ndola Central Hospital.

And an accident survivor Andre Andish, whose Honda vehicle, registration number ACJ 8340, was hit by the minibus, said the accident occurred around 18:00 hours.

Mr Andish, who sustained minor body injuries said the accident happened at the junction of Nkana and Makoli roads near Kafubu Bridge.

He said a Maritime Transport Company truck, registration number ABL 8594, carrying beer was heading southwards and the minibus was heading in the same direction, towards Masala.

The truck was partially submerged in Kafubu River after hitting more than three other vehicles.
Ndola traffic police had a tough time retrieving the dead and the injured.

[ Times of Zambia ]