Sat, 04 Mar 2017 10:20:54 +0000
A HORDE of Patriotic Front (PF) youths in Lusaka yesterday stormed the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) offices in Rhodespark demanding for the immediate resignation of its president, Linda Kasonde, for allegedly politicising the association.
Ms. Kasonde has been accused of engineering LAZ’s inertia to provide legal advice on political
matters which favoured the ruling party while turning a blind eye on the ills perpetuated by the UPND such as attacks on judges who have refused to be coerced into predetermining cases in its favour.
The group, which was led by Lusaka district
chairperson Yelisa Kondowe marched to LAZ offices carrying banners and demanded for an immediate resignation of Ms. Kasonde for allegedly turning the association into a UPND branch whose aim was to paralyse other political parties on legal matters.
The youths observed that Ms.
Kasonde’s stay at LAZ would drive the country into an abyss of political
turmoil as she had driven her
political agenda too far, adding that the state of affairs at the association clearly showed that she was pushed to that position by the UPND to fight its political battles with opponents.
But the council of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has charged that it is deeply saddened by the protests against LAZ at the association secretariat by unknown cadres.
The council has charged that the attack appeared to be an attempt to intimidate LAZ from performing its statutory mandate.
“Whilst LAZ would like to thank the police for swiftly coming to our aid, we hope that the matter will be thoroughly investigated to determine whether this was a legal demonstration.
“Whilst LAZ celebrates the right to freedom of expression and association and the right to peaceful demonstrations by all Zambians, that right should not infringe upon the right by LAZ to exercise its mandate freely in line with the tenets of democracy,” the council said.
And speaking to the media, Mr. Kondowe said Ms. Kasonde’s stance on legal matters were a time bomb waiting to explode as she was courting anarchy in the country but warned that the youths would act decisively on her.
He said while there was nothing wrong with her supporting any party of her choice, it was wrong for her to use her position at LAZ to influence wrong decisions which exposed the institution to incompetence.
“How can she be so one-sided on legal matters and always acting against PF? It is common knowledge that Ms. Kasonde is a UPND cadre and we do not have a problem with her supporting any party of her choice but we shall not sit idle and watch her use LAZ to propagate the ideals of the UPND because that is a public and professional institution which is supposed to be non-partisan.
“We are not here to threaten her. We are here to give her a timely warning and if she continues with what she is doing, she should be ready to crush with us because it is wrong for anyone to take the peace we are enjoying for granted. If she does not want to listen, let her resign on moral grounds so that we meet in the battlefield as politicians,” Mr. Kondowe said.
He challenged Ms. Kasonde to resign from her position and form a political party so that they could fight with her as a politician and not LAZ president because her current position was not political.
And vice chairperson Yona Longe reiterated that the PF would treat Ms. Kasonde as a political opponent and not as a professional who represented the legal fraternity in the country due to her highly biased position with regard to legal matters which bordered on politics.
Meanwhile, information and publicity deputy secretary Jonas Chisamba said Ms. Kasonde’s behaviour had the potential to send the country to a blink of violence if not curtailed as people were fed up with her political interference in her discharge of duty.
Mr. Chisamba said freedom fighters’ efforts in liberating the country from its colonial masters would be in vain if the country did not have peace as a result of some people who were purposefully inciting violence.
