President Michael Sata has refused to grant suspended Supreme Court Judge Phillip early retirement after Justice Musonda tendered his application on May 8 this year.
According to Mr Sata’s spokesperson George Chellah, the President has decided to make the letter containing suspended Supreme Court judge
Phillip Musonda’s application for early retirement public in order to insulate the general public from lies and distortions being
permeated by some irresponsible media houses with strange agenda.
Mr Sata said he would only consider judge Musonda’s request for early retirement, after the tribunal probing him had sat.
“I have set up a tribunal as distinctly approved by the Constitution of Zambia and we shall not circumvent that process. For that reason, I
will only consider his Lordship Phillip Musonda’s request for early retirement after the tribunal’s findings,” President Sata said.
“My principal obligation is to be guardian of public interest and it is therefore my duty to correct falsehoods, twists and misrepresentation of facts by certain deceitful elements and authors of disorder within our political circles and beyond,” President Sata
said.
This Patrotic Front government has re-affirmed its committed to follow the due process of the law and no one would stop them from the
national agenda of bringing transparency and accountability in all arms of governance.
The President said all those who are interested in this matter regarding the suspended judges should allow the tribunal to sit and therefore uphold the due process of the law before resorting to wild media speculations.
Too much power in the presidency. And how is the Judiciary independent when they need to be appointed and retired by the president? The system is compromised.
Does it mean after he is retired he cannot be probed? Personally I think His Excellency is convinced there will be dirt on this Judge. Anyway, may the law takes its course we patiently wait the outcome.
Circus pa zambia. Wen shall start talking development.
But why is the President not considering asking Mutembo Ntchito to step aside since he is one of those that will also testify in the matter before the Tribunal. There is no doubt that Mutembo and Fred are guilty of some acts and protecting them at the expense of others is great injustice in itself.
Is this supposed to say that Sata is right?? Unfortunately, it doesn’t – it just shows he should NOT be in that office. Is there no privacy with him?
you fool now that the truth is comimig out wait and see the opposition were saying bad things
I wonder if this is truly in the interest of transparency or to make the public look with disfavor upon the judge. The tribunal needs to sit, but that does not justify smear campaigns or embarrassing one who has served the country for 31 years – ni patali. The country is in a bad space at the moment. LORD help us!
This judge has caused damage for 31 years and in your idio+ic opinion the 31 years is enough argument not to have him investigated? You are well and truely amazingly stupi+
Our judiciary is corrupt to the core and no one should be spared, especially the ones who have served longest
Please do not retire him. HE MUST FIRST DANCE TO THE MUSIC of his corrupt and disgraceful career.
Bravo to Sata and PF. MMD for 20 years just corrupted the judiciary and made them unaccountable. The purge of our judiciary has been long overdue and NO ONE will escape whether they choose to retire or commit suicide (Musonda).
What Sata is sying here is nonsense. Who is he trying to blindfold by exposing the letter? Is this how the country is going to run where you do everything through the press? We told you that this man is not presidential material. He is so shallow minded such that he thinks by exposing the corresspondence to the public he will gain sympathy for his misguided mistakes. We know you and there is nothing you are going to do that will change our thinking. The problem is he thinks everyone is at his level of thinking.
you fool don’t say that to our man
Fellow Zambians the President is right by exposing the Judge.Some of you were trying to side up with Hon. judge .The Judge has exposed him self. Why resigning? Is he trying to run away from the truth.
ba sata naimwe ; This letter is irrelevant here. Judge Musonda can still be investigated after he is retired. Actaually we should have retired all of them including Nchito untill they are all cleared.So ka george chella’s speeches are written by Memmbe..Please pay 14bn FULLSTOP.
\:d/:(( life pa zed yali sasa… thats why am going to barotseland to be the DPP. dirty politics borns dirty government…. you wanted change and now you are complaining about it..
U zambians r ful of s***. Thank God i left Zambia. :o
Simple mathematics; if you are retired you walk away with a reasonable pension; if you are fired or resign, you leave with nothing. Musonda is clever!
The Bible says…thou shall not Judge…lest u be Judged. U Judge Muzo should feel how it is being in the dock.
The Post newspaper,mutembo,jnc must pay what they owe to Zambian people through DBZ,mutuna was right to pass that judgement it’s truelly a people’s judgement,otherwise these judges new the implication of leaving this case in the hands of judge Dennis Wood and PF ….the Post,fred m’membe ,mutembo,were not going to pay that debt…judge musonda’s decision to resign is the most honorable under the circumstances in which the president is interfering in the operations of the judiciary,how does the supreme judge of 31years be investigated by a judge of high court coming from a country of no legal background,impoverished,this is the most plunder the president has caused to himself and the nation….
Is Musonda Tonga or Lozi????
You delivered judgement on Chiluba and made me look like a fool as though i did not do a good job as prosecutor now you must suffer judge. you have been found wanting
Who ever will come after Ukwa will have to set up more tribunals and COIs….cozPF will out perform MMD coz the drama since september2011 is record breaking in the entire africa!
When Sata was in opposition he was fond of writing letters to the president and then leaking them to the Post. Looks like nothing has changed now that he is in State House.
Mimi, what does it matter? Bottom line he is Zambian. There are issues that must be kept confidential as these guys are accused of something, but the fact that one remains innocent till proven guilty should be respected starting from the president. I don see no cash money or any thing in the letter. Does the presdo want to expose all letters he gets even from people who are job seekers that are now employed?
what are flag:((
@shamrock. The argument that the judge from the high court cannot preside over the supreme court judge is not true. If you recall properly judge Musonda, then high court judge overruled the findings of judge D.Chirwa tribunal the supreme court judge in the dora Siliya case. In life we should learn to do the right thing no matter the circumstance, otherwise your decision will come to haunt you in future like in this case.
Iwe chi Shamrock, didn’t your corrupt Judge Musonda overturn the findings of then supreme court justice Dennis Chirwa concerning the corrupt Dora SILIYA contract termination and awarding! Was Justice Chirwa not his senior? Have you Zambians been bewitched or it is a deliberate work of opposition sympathisers to mislead the rest of the bloggers with soft brains and little information? Even during the campaigns bloggers mislead most citizens that no single opposition party can unseat the MMD to the point of swelling HHs’ head! Musonda, however much you defend him MUST & WILL appear before the tribunal and answer all that will be exposed. If he is corrupt, by the end of the tribunal he may even face prosecution or a dishonourable discharge like that of chief justice Mathew Ngulube! Atase!
@11 You can go to HELL why did you leave? If you are not interested in Zambia DON’T COMMENT ON ZAMBIAN ISSUES. YOU FOOL
Judge Musonda his court cases results were based corruption so even if he is removed in an corrupt that is fine . He should understand who it feels
The circus that is the Zambian Presidency. Written in confidence, made public. He wish to retire is not an admission of guilt. What a bunch of jokers!!!
Interesting!
This country has gone to the dogs. Its such a cheap country nowadays hey. Not even the President shows any signs on maturity. Even blogging here is kaponyarish, especially from PF cadres. I just wonder which schools most of these *****s from compunds went to? I just wonder you know. PF is really a circus to say the least. How can a President sink so low in our country.What is happening pipo? Is this a nightmare or what.?
Are you trying to insinuate that by requesting to retire then he is guilty.Statehouse being petty here.I think the heat by the Opposition is being felt hence these senseless desperate tactics.How can you have DPP and Judges fighting in a normal country?
Instead of discussing development issue we are bogged down with this issue simply because Membe and Nchito dont want to pay back what they borrowed voluntarily! And then somebody wants us in the diaspora to come back!
# 8 Inspector. Its hard lessons for Zambia to have a head of state rule the nation through the press to gun public sympathy over national issues. The media has nothing to do with style of governance being demonstrated here. If wholesomeness is coming from this regime, there would be no issues to grapple with and the media would help glorify Sata’s action as the Post newspapers has always done. However, the issue is pundering to the public while being deaf to the public’s outcry for justice. Next Sata has to deal with the DPP office which Zambians want the officer removed and pay tax payer’s money K14 billion borrowed from DBZ. To believe this will die a natural death is self dellusion, the issue is stuck on Sata.
“My principle obligation is to be guardian of public interest…”.
Was government’s request to DBZ to withdraw the Zambian Airways case in public interest?
What a GRZ! Confidential letters in the press?
This is a rigged tribunal. What public interest is so-called president talking about? Why is he taking Zambians for granted. We know what Sata is doing and he is not going to fool us with the childish behaviour of refusing Musonda his basic human right. So the way Musonda is scared sounds like he has already received threats from Sata and his machinery. Micheal Sata should remember that in fact for him he can kill Musonda alright but him Sata is already close to his own death anyway – where he will meet God without any of his artificial presidential powers.
People of this planet, there is one variable missing in this equation and its His Bweziness. This case of DBZ was castigated upon the honourable gentlemen out of vindictiveness. It was a company debt the company went into liquidation. His Bweziness had a number of companies liquidated under his nose and how much money did he pay back? Some of you bloggers here have uncles, dads and including yourselves with liquidated companies under your names and you have not paid back monies lost in the process. His Bweziness had a lot of hate against the guys and if there was any dirty againt them, he would have nailed them big time. Again, lets wait for the tribunal to finish its work so that we debate from an informed position. I rst my case.
Good move by HE MC Sata, no chaps are retiring early with a fat pension, let the tribunal do its work, then you can go to the farm!! hehehehe
Ras Rated, it matters alot in Zambia and thank God we have also learnt to be patriotic.
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@ # 27, MUFANA WAMAHAFU, you are the same guys who called all PFsupporters Kaponyas before the 09/2011 elections and foolishly claimed that they did not own voters’ cards and your parties terribly lost elections. Haven’t you learnt a lesson and you still call us by the same names? You are demeaning the compounds yet your parents raised you in a remote village and you should be grateful that you are able to read and write otherwise ngamulichisosofye. some of you should be ashamed of yourselves because though you claim to be educated your judgement and decision making is very poor. Are you educated or merely schooled?
Viva the Cobra on this one
APA TAPALI LUFYENGO. APABA ULUFYENGO NGABALIBATAMFYA KALE AMANCITO NOKUBAPOSA MUFIFUNGO ,NOMBA BALEFWAYA ICHISHINKA. IF HE IS INOCENT WHY SHOULD HE PANIC. LEKENI BA JUDGE NABO BAKAYEMONA UKO BALETUMA ABANTU BA KAELE IFYO KWABA. ATI CHIWAMILA GARU KULUMA MBUZI
38 and 39 you are right ala butu the President has shown leadership Uno mwaka ala naiza naizanda bakateka ba Sata muli fye bwino viva PF
B4 u criticize the president, u should know that sometimes even God used the most unlikely people to serve the interest of the masses instead of 1. eg Moses. He was a murderer. Its not long ago when all of you people cried about how corrupt ridden the judiciary was and yet today, u’ve forgoten. Look on the bright side, that this is the only president who has stood up to weed out corrupt elements in the judicial system. YES! and that judge should not be allowed to retire before we get to hear about everything he did to put the judiciary in disrepute.
SATA IS A TRIBALIST. HE FIRES OTHER TRIBES AND LIVE OUT BEMBAS. IN INDIA HEHAS RECALLED ALL AND LIVE OUT BEMBAS, IN OTTAWA HEHASRECALLED ALL AND LEFT SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE LONGER THAN THOSE RECALLED. IN NIGERIA THE SAME,IN ANGOLA THE SAME, IN NIGERIA THE SAME THIS IS TRIBALISM…EDITED
Way to go Mr President. We voted for change so that we could rid all elements of government of corruption. Do let him get away via early retirement. We want to know the truth and to what level of corruption these judicial went. And can you please ask the Chief Justice to retire though he was dubiously given a contract by Rupiah Banda and the MMD even when they new he had reached retirement. The man is an incumberance to the whole judicial system. Nangu kutemwa shimbongo mwati nifi. The CJ should just retire immediately in the interest of the nation for he promoted this.
If he retires he ll be entitled to benefits and he is found wanting he looses them. Dont you see the logic in the Presidents mind.
Ati kumanga tabakanya manje kamangiwe
The problem is Zed is that people forget very fast and easily. So no matter what ones tries to do for them, they will not see the sense due to their poor memories. This issue is not new and if you go back in the days you will truly understand the nature of this issue and you may be able to contribute to the debate with knowledge and not just yapping! Bravo to the president for denying the Judge early retirement. We still want him to serve the nation!
opinions shall forever remain that, opinions
LUNGOWE do you read newspapers ,do you watch and listen to TV?
put the facts straight,Andrew Bwesani Banda is not a Bemba and is still deputy India high commision.
LUNGOWE IS RIGHT, aNDREW IS IN zAMBI FACING CHRGES, INFACT HEGO HIS RECALL LETTER FOR 31ST OF MARCH 2011 SO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. THIS IS A bEMBE KINGDOM HA HA HA