Tue, 25 Apr 2017 10:11:28 +0000
By CHIKUMBI KATEBE
THE UPND has lamentably failed to prove allegations of bias, animosity and prejudice against Lusaka High Court Justice Mwila Chitabo in their application to have the judge recuse himself from hearing a matter before him.
Mr Justice Chitabo said the mere fact that a complaint was made alleging that a judge was biased and could not be impartial did not require automatic recusal from a case before him, citing that “if it were so, any party or attorney could easily disrupt court proceedings by filing a complaint”.
He said the opposition lawyers have failed to establish their indictment of the allegations against him in a petition in relation to the failed presidential election petition which the opposition challenged as a contravention of their legal right to be heard after the Constitutional Court threw out their petition for want of prosecution.
“I have delved in the complaints or indictments preferred against the court. I have microscopically dissected the same, analyzed them and found no basis to sustain even remotely the charges of bias.
“If the argument by the petitioners that the acclaimed affinity with the founder member was an open affair amongst the legal fraternity, that included the team of the two eminent State Counsel and the distinguished members of the Bar, and if as demonstrated with this knowledge the petitioners found no cause to challenge the court’s impartiality and the court has presided over a number of their cases since December 2014, the only irresistible inference and conclusion is that there does not exist any basis upon which to anchor the complaint and demand for recusal,” he said.
He explained that there must be credible evidence to support such frivolous and vexatious allegations to result in the judge’s vacation of court proceedings, as such claims would be seen as forum shopping, and if allowed would have the undesirable effects of weakening the integrity of the courts.
Mr Justice Chitabo said legitimately aggrieved litigants would always have their day in court if their complaint was well anchored.
He said the mere fact that a complaint was made alleging that a judge was biased and could not be impartial did not require automatic recusal from a case before him, citing that “if it were so, any party or attorney could easily disrupt court proceedings by filing a complaint”.
He has since set 16th May, 2017, as date for status conference to set up date of hearing of the respondent’s notice of intention to raise a preliminary issue.
He said the fact that the Judiciary may have some form of control of who should access the court premises was no excuse to justify the rowdy behavior of the UPND cadres that pounced on innocent members of the public and workers housed at High Court and the Supreme Court, leading to his orders to restrict the matter to the confines of his chambers.
