LUSAKA lawyer Christopher Mundia has said Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga has not done anything wrong to warrant the setting up of a tribunal under the Inquiries Act.
Mr Mundia said in Lusaka that a DPP can only be removed under the Inquiries Act after setting up a tribunal to probe alleged misconduct to determine the merit of particular allegations against him.
He said the current DPP Mchenga had not done anything wrong to warrant the setting up of such a tribunal to investigate him.
He said a tribunal could only be constituted if there was need to determine the merit of the allegations levelled against the office bearer.
Mr Mundia who is a State Counsel said Mr Mchenga was one of the young and intelligent DPPs that the country has had and he was professional in work.He was not protecting Mr Mchenga but the latter had proved to be a good DPP who should not be removed on mere allegations. [quote]
He said the people who were calling for the removal of the DPP had not even read the judgment on former president Chiluba’s acquittal. Mr Mundia said people were mishandling the acquittal of Dr Chiluba because what may appear as evidence to a layman may not be counted as evidence in the court.
He said the principle of law was such that even if there could be a good case before the court, it could be mishandled to the advantage of the accused.
And Deputy Minister of Justice, Todd Chilembo has said that a DPP can only be relieved of his duties if it was proven that he had committed gross misconduct.
Mr Chilembo said in an interview yesterday that if there was reasonable evidence that the DPP had committed an offence such as corruption or anything that was unethical, a tribunal to hear the evidence would be appointed and the tribunal would decide from the evidence if the DPP had committed an offence.
Mr Chilembo said the DPP would also be relieved of his duties if he attained the retirement age saying that a DPP like judges had security of tenure.
The office of the DPP differed from that of the Attorney General (AG), as the AG’s position was advisory while the DPP made decisions regarding prosecution of matters.
Mr Chilembo said it was sad that while matters regarding the registration of the London Judgment concerning former president Chiluba were open to the public, PF president Michael Sata continued to mislead the public on the status of the London Judgment because he issued wrong statements.
Mr Chilembo said the true position was that Mr Kunda had travelled for three days to London to testify over the Vulture Fund case and it was because of his testimony that the claim that Zambia was meant to pay reduced substantially.
[Times of Zambia]
In the interest of fairness and upholding his own integrity, Chalwe should step aside. It is only his mininions who are fighting his cause. Frivolous statements from the people backing him.
sorry #1 question who asked these guys to comment please
There surely something untoward about this Chiluba acquittal scheme. And these hired SC’s will soon find out that they are defending people on the wrong side
What makes this Mundia think that the people challenging the Chiluba acquittal have not read the judgment and is he sure that Mchenga has done nothing wrong? It seems now that everyday there is a new recruit on the Zambian circus and what is worrying is that most of them are lawyers. The profession is not short of clowns and bootlickers.
Bankaka sentence muchifungo nshipangilyomulandu…NOTI Guilty,,,kaili bakakula,NOTI GUILTY,,, ine bankakaa,NEMWANA WA NCHUSHI,,,,NOT GULITY,,,NSHIKWETE SHAKUBOSHA,,,NOT GULITY,,, NEMWANA WAMUPINA,,,NOT GULITY,,,AKAPONDO BAKAKULA………repeat X2
2 & 3
educate us on what the DPP has done to warrant removal from office..
# 5 I agree with you in toto!
#5 I also agree with you. Is it not appealing against Chiluba’s acquital or what?
2 & 3
educate us. what has the DPP done to warrant removal from office?
James Chinyama’s verdict freeing Chiluba was a joke and how he arrived at his verdict actually left more questions than answers. It’s embarrassing that in his haste hand written judgement Banda instructed him to script on Saturday and Sunday preceding the judgement, he described Chiluba as not being a public servant so not guilty of the offence of “misappropriation of funds by public servant”. This is very embarrasing for any lawyer and I doubt he did this unknowingly, he did it because he was forced to acquit so he made ridiculous conclusions to allow the defence to appeal to the supreme court where a full bench will hear the case. If Mundia cannot see something fishy in that verdict, then he is S.T.U.P.I.D.
That Jones Chinyama has months to write his verdict and todate, one has to wonder why he all of a sudden changed his mind, last minute in the morning shortly before the court was to convene, to make the ruling on a Friday as earlier decided, 2 months before, and saw it fit to claim that he was not ready! When he showed up the following Monday, he looked jittery and all those who were in the gallery could clearly see he was shaking while reading from a hand written script. The conclusions were pathetic and stinkingly vexatious. Any lawyer, even student ones, would find lots of fertile ground to appeal. That Mchenga didn’t can only be expalained by Mlongoti and Banda’s pronouncements weeks later, they decided not Mchenga. So what are we paying him for? Kuya bebele.
#5, 6, & 7 Have you forgotten how judgment in Chiluba’s case was mysteriously, under suspicious circumstances postponed from Friday to Monday. This raised serious questions. Have you also forgotten comments like ‘ He was a damn good president’. This was said by the president and was influential on the judge. During the campaign Chiluba supported RB and was quoted to have said, ‘I campaign for RB because he has promised me something’. What was this something? All this was evidence enough for the DPP to appeal but he failed to do so and that’s why there are calls for him to step down.
#5, 6, 7, 8 Am in total support, can we be told what is that he has done that warrants such a call for his removal in office. Zambians be werry of what of this issue called mob justice and street trial and kangaroo courts. Law is a very technical issue, and in many parts of the world, one of the many areas of law which fail moral justice and not lthe egal system, are on issues of procedural and evidence. If you begin to demand for resignationa and removal of office holders mainly becoz of failure to satisfy the masses, we are loosing the true meaning of legal system, and independence of the judicary and such public offices.Can they prove the irregularity that warrants this call please.Until then let these offices be free of political will including that which is coming from the opposition.
10. are you a lawyer?
11 … sorry those are not grounds for appeal nor removal of DPP. dont you think that it is prudent to ask for a tribunal to hear complaints from the people calling for his removal?
Here are the reasons given by LAZ in their press statement
1- Mchenga withdrew the appeal that was filed and he gave false reasons for doing so. First he claimed that the lawyers that filed the appeal did not have his permission to do so.this was proved to be a lie because Mchenga knew very well that no such permission was required
2-Mchenga had obtained a judgment from judge Mwanamwambwa clearly stating that no such permission was required from him for a prosecutor to appeal. When this lie was exposed and his claim of permission discredited, Mchenga resorted to another lie. He claimed that there was no merit in the grounds of appeal that had been filed. Again, this lie was exposed by many people who had read the judgment
The Law Association of Zambia made it clear that there was merit in the grounds of appeal and the matter was therefore appealable.
These are enough grounds for LAZ to demand the removal of mchenga,LAZ represents the citizens and they read the judgemnt and concluded that the case was appealble despite mchengas lies.
What Mchenga did was actually a fraud to the people of Zambia. Given that position, it is easy to understand what has driven the Law Association of Zambia to take the position it has taken on this matter and against Mchenga
If anyone was still in doubt as to who made the decision not to appeal, Rupiah made it very clear. Rupiah told the nation that he had decided not to appeal because the lawyers who prosecuted Chiluba for US $500,000 were paid US $13 million.
RB made the decision not to appeal so that he could save money. Rupiah claimed that appealing the matter would cost the Zambian taxpayer another US $13 million and he was not in a position to appeal and enrich those greedy lawyers. This is what Rupiah told the nation and this matter was reported in more than one edition of the state-owned and government controlled Zambia Daily Mail, among other news media outlets in our country.
Now,mchenga as a DPP serving the interest of the general public,should have said,NO,we have grounds to appeal,but he didnt
#14 FEIRA, I have another reminder for you in case you have already forgotten, Under this administration a tribunal is a just a waste of time as we saw in Dora Siliya’s case. She was found wanting and what followed was that she was advised to ‘resign’. Even after ‘resigning’ her cabinet position was not filled, kept her official car (unlike Mpombo), kept official residence and even appeared at official functions where the president was present and within weeks she was reappointed to a full cabinet post. The peoples voices are arrogantly ignored even at tribunals. It will not be surprising when these questionable cases are revisited after 2011. You say ‘those are not grounds for appeal’, what are they, I am not a lawyer can you explain?
Remember the Kashiwa Bulaya case,mchenga withdrew it on grounds that there wasnt enough evidence,people cried over this,its common sense what happened next,Bulaya is in chimbokaila now,this is exactly what happened to LAZO’s case,meanwhile mchenga vehemntly claimed that there was no evidence, and this is the DPP who is meant to side with the masses,this office calls for professionalism, not midiocrity
Iwe FEIRA, where have you been? People are demanding that Mchenga be removed from office because he allowed his office to be compromised. Whether the Judge erred in acquitting Chiluba is neither here no there. The most prudent thing to do would have been to appeal. Nchito did accordingly but Mchenga withdrew the appeal without giving valid reasons. It later emerged that it was actually RB who stopped the appeal and not the DPP. Now, the DPP is supposed to operate independently. Since his independence was compromised, he should be removed from his office. Is there any sane human being out there who can claim that the DPP was not influenced in his decision not to appeal? If indeed it was his decision, why is the Executive so busy defending him. And why did they make all those pronouncements?
It has been established beyond doubt in the minds of many zambians that Mchenga has not been operating independently. If anything, Mchenga is operating like a puppet on strings being pulled by Rupiah and George. This goes against the spirit of the Constitution that made the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions independent. The reason for this independence was to ensure that justice in our country was not a prerogative of the RnB and those around him. It was to make sure that the Director of Public Prosecutions was not an agent of the RB.What Mchenga has done is to turn this very important institution or office of the state into an agency at the service of Rupiah’s political interests.
If these are not grounds enough to get rid of the DPP then i dont know if there can be any…
Christopher Mundia is a useless lawyer and his contribution to the country is shameful!!
In Zambia, the independence of the judiciary and DPP is compromised by Article 44(5) of the Constitution of Zambia. I hope the commision sitting will remove the article. Under the article, it is a constitutional right for the President to remove any person he appoints. Now imagine yourself in the shoes of the poor DPP who also wants his job. DPP cannot disobey his matser and himself (DPP) knows about this article. This is the reason why DPP did what he did and he knows that he will not be removed since Dola is in office. But the best advise I can give him is to resign on moral grounds and protect his and lawyers intergret. Please keep the proferssion clean.
We must be carefull with politicians. A few foolish chaps may bring the nation to a stand still as it is happening. The old boy Bwezani is been used by pipo like Mulongoti, Shikapwasha and others. I hope he is clever as his freind FTJ who cheated Richard Sakala who is a candidate of the prison. Looking at the way things are moving, Bamudala may come and face aftremath alone.
Tribunals and tribunals. We are fed up. One thing for sure my fellow countrymen is that we have not yet reached that level where these will truly be meaningful. Tribunals in this country do not make any sense. At the end of the day they are sheer waste of time and financial resources as nothing is ever achieved. Whilst the call for Mchenga to quit is well meant, still more the end result shall be like Dora Siliya’s case. At the end of the day what purpose does such an avenue or option serve. As long as the power belongs to the MMD, things shall be done the MMD way. Thats why we Zambians must unite and vote wisely in 2011.
Thanks goes to Smoothcriminal who has provided a comprehensive explanation to justify why DPP should resign. Come 2011 and F.E.I.R.A do you stll have challenges on this demand on the DPP? Once again spot on thanks for your wise counsel.
Sebuloni Kamutanda
You clearly dint read the judgement. Chiluba was not aquited as a result of the establishment of the fact that he was not a civil servant. The judge infact did the prosecution a favour by substituting the charge of theft by public servant to simply theft.The issue then was on the evidence that was available for a theft charge. unfortunately the prosecution dint have it. if i was a Judge i wouldnt even substitute the charge but defect the charge sheet and simply follow the provisions concerning a defective charge.
Actually Sebuloni after the judgment, Nkole was quoted saying that he should have charged FTJ with conspiracy not theft. And I have said before anyone who knows anything about law knows that law has many morally suspect judgment that are based on law.. And it will neary always come down to contradicting opinions . If you live in Zambia did you see the PF cadre who bit up their collague on TV. they were were aquited on a technicality. That law, there are hundreds of such cases.
Smooth thanks for the information on LAZ. I some how missed the press release
#5, you are NOT GUILTY!!!
#27 Ba Sibweni, If you read my blogs carefully at #12 & 19 you will notice that I support the sacking/resignation of the DPP contrary to FEIRA who thinks otherwise.
I have read these comments with amusement;
I am a slow thinker and I want to find out from you good pipo the following:
1. If Mchenga resigns who will be the appointment authority? And if Mchenga is dancing to the whims of RB will the new one be any different??
2. How many bad decisions has this same DPP made to warrant a tribunal?
3. Does it mean that all lawyers in Zambia are conversant with criminal litigation for the to overrule the DPP? Especially the LAZ executive.
4. Smooth criminal haven’t you misled the masses by stating that it was Mr Mchenga who dealt with the Bulaya nolle prosequi? I thot it was one Sokoni (Acting DPP; thus the Sokoni letter)
5. Why should the DPP side with the masses? I thot that the DPP should side with the relevant facts and law as presented in the…
Court in a particular matter. Am I wrong?
6. Is it against the spirit of the Constitution to give an accused person be it Chiluba or whoever a fair trial??
7. Does it mean that none of you have heard of an adjourned judgment?
Feira, I am not a lawyer but surely all it takes is just a little “malango” and some bit of education to figure out that something is seriously flawed with Mchenga’s decision to withdraw the appeal. It is such kind of dunderhead “ama politics akunya” that make Zambian politics a dirty stinking game. You seem clearly blind to reality and in Zambia, the likelyhood that you are rooting for Kanitundila’s stance even when its so laughable is but born out of nothing but tribal bigotry. Next time Kanitundila is caught pants down defacating by the roadside, I will not be suprised to hear you retort: “if he has diarrhoea in his stomach, do you want him to defacate in his Mercedes Benz S class armoured guard pullman state limousine?” Well, Miyanda did in his combat before “vinyau vya”…
LAZ is asking for Mchenga SAND to resign and resignation is part of the the same constitution article 58 part 6 which states that the DPP can give 3 months notice to the president is he/she wants to resign and there is no need of a tribunal. Mundia is simply a job seeker no wonder most of his cases are lost and he too is known for eating his clients money.
Mundia, what evidence is this that may appear to us laymen as true evidence when infact not! You lawyers think that what you study is God’s law and only you understand “law”, malabishi. Infact Chiluba at one time branded you as a “dull lawyer”. What malabishi is this?
This small faced Farai Mchenga is going, like it or not. It will take a day, two, a year but he is leaving just like Nyamasoya the Iddiiiot.
LAZ is about law and so they should follow te law by asking for a tribunal rather than talking like us laymen. If they insist on the route they have taken then they should cease to talk about law and allow logical, morality and our cultural laws intambi apply. You can not force DPP to resign without evidence please! Is Mundia and other lawyer with a different view not part of LAZ? If he and others are members of LAZ then there is a very big crisis in LAZ which needs to be sorted out before asking Mchenga to resign. Can we also say Lungu has been compromised by PF and so he should resign? I ask coz those calling for his resignation are not providing the evidence and are not seeking what our supreme law which they are “raping” in broad day light. Mchenga do you work professionally.
I sincerely tender my apologies to # 32 The London Eye. It has just come to my attention that you are also Blogging as Come 2011. This is what could caused the reaction I advanced. I value your contributions at # 12 & 19.