SACCORD has urged stakeholders in the Peace, Democracy, and Governance to advocate and support citizens in the country to use established state institutions when airing their grievances.
Speaking during a press briefing held at SACCORD Secretariat in Lusaka on Sunday organization Executive Director Boniface Cheembe observed that when citizens avoid using state institutions to air their grievances the alternative is the street or the bush which in turn creates civil strife in the country.
He said country has avoided such situations by ensuring that leaders and citizens alike do not take the law in their own hands.
Below is part of the statement issued by Mr Cheembe.
As SACCORD we were encouraged by the detailed and serious address by the Head of State on issues that potentially affect the peace, security, and stability of the country. We were comforted and welcomed the humane address and condemnation of those behind the gassing phenomenon and acts of the mob (in)justice as this goes against the nation’s morality and ethics. We, therefore, want to appeal to Zambians that our peace is dependent on the extent to which we observe morality and ethics by fostering and nurturing hard work, generosity, integrity, respect for human life, elders and public property. As an organization, we had become highly disturbed with the acts of citizens taking the law into their own hands by damaging public property, such as Police stations and government vehicles, most of which was targeted at state institutions which exist to protect the welfare of all citizens as prescribed by their constitutional mandate. When citizens begin to avoid using state institutions to ensure that their peace, security, and stability prevail then that becomes a source of conflict.
In line with the above, it is important that all stakeholders in the peace, democracy and governance sector of the country advocate and support all citizens of the Republic of Zambia to resolve their grievances through established institutions such as the courts of laws. Evidence has shown that when citizens avoid using state institutions to resolve their grievances often the alternative is the streets or the bush which in the African context means civil war or civil strife. This potential of civil strife or war is something that Zambia has avoided since independence by ensuring that the nation’s leaders and the citizens act with an ethic of morality and responsibility by ensuring that they do not take the law into their hands by going to the streets or the bush.
This situation has had to be cultivated and nurtured throughout our history since independence as this has been recognized to be a source of harmony, unity, and peace. Therefore, all citizens irrespective of political affiliation or status have had an ethic of responsibility of contributing towards confidence-building measures in the state institutions that are responsible for addressing matters of a conflicting nature namely, the judiciary.
To that extent, SACCORD has always encouraged and promoted the exchange of ideas through divergent views on national matters of any nature. However, this exercise of our freedom of expression and association must always be done in a manner that does not erode confidence in the state institutions as doing so becomes a source of conflict. There is no institution of governance in the country that is beyond criticism and there is no one that is denied the opportunity to engage in such criticism. The trouble arises when public engagement appears to want to erode total public confidence in the way certain state institutions function.
It is on the basis of the above that we welcome the position taken by the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) on some of its senior members namely, Dr. Roger Chongwe, S.C. and Mr John Sangwa, S.C, over their allegedly reported position questioning the qualifications, integrity, propriety, and impartiality of the constitutional court judges. We agree with LAZ that the courts of law and judicial officers may not be immune to criticism, but this must not be used to undercut the role and authority that judges and judicial officers may have in society. As SACCORD, we support freedom of expression and association that contributes to strengthening and keeping public confidence in state institutions as this is paramount for peace.
The courts of law exist to peacefully adjudicate over conflict issues that affect the welfare of individuals and stakeholders in the nation and as such the position taken by LAZ only seeks to defend and protect the integrity of the judiciary as this is important in ensuring that citizens have trust in their state institutions and utilize them to peacefully and amicably resolve disputes. We, therefore, appeal to the LAZ to engage in dialogue with the concerned senior members so that there can be better understanding and harmony in the legal fraternity on building confidence and trust in state institutions. We further appeal for the LAZ to engage with the judiciary to bring harmony between their concerned senior members and the judiciary as an institution.
Just as we condemned and appealed to the people of Zambia to respect state institutions at the height of the gassing phenomenon and mob (in)justice, we make a similar appeal to the people of the country over matters and utterances concerning the judiciary. If as a people we allow any ounce of confidence in the citizens to evaporate over the judiciary, the ramifications may be worse than the mob instant (in)justice the nation was able to witness a few weeks ago. We must cautiously safeguard the harmony and peace that the nation has been enjoying since independence and one component of that is to ensure that every citizen builds confidence in the judiciary arm of government with the full understanding that they can criticize court judgments without resorting to destroying public confidence of the judiciary as this is a source of harmony, unity and peace for the country. It is better for our nation to invest in conflict prevention and management as this offers better prospects for nurturing and maintaining sustainable peace.
Finally, we have taken note and welcome the position taken by the President to consider setting up a Commission of Inquiry into the gassing phenomenon. We believe that this process will offer citizens an opportunity to come forward and provide information that may not have been provided since the start of this phenomenon. In order to address citizens’ expectations over such a consideration, SACCORD believes that this Commission of Inquiry should consider having an inbuilt peacebuilding process that will provide an opportunity and platform for forgiveness and reconciliation.
In other words, this Commission of Inquiry must be a citizen-driven process that will afford an opportunity for all citizens, both victims, and perpetrators, to come forward and provide their testimony. We appeal that the Terms of Reference (TORs) put in place, for this Commission of Inquiry, will act as some form of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that will complement the retributive justice through our court system that is currently ongoing with a restorative justice process that should be victim-centered. We, therefore, appeal to all the citizens of the Republic to take full advantage of this opportunity by coming forward to provide information or testimony.
