Petition postponement saddens Sinkamba

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 13:12:54 +0000

By Mailesi Banda

IT IS disheartening that High Court judge Mwila Chitabo decided to adjourn the UPND presidential petition indefinitely on account of the violent conduct of UPND cadres last week, Green Party president Peter Sinkamba has said.

The opposition leader said while he understood the frustration Mr Justice Chitabo was confronted with arising from the mischief by the UPND cadres, the High Court judge should have proceeded with the matter.

“It is our wish that Aristotle’s declaration continues to guide the philosophy of our legal system: ‘The law is reason, free from passion’. It is the calling of the profession that a good judge should firmly put emotional reactions aside to their work. Thus, we expect judges to regulate their emotions, either by preventing emotion’s emergence or by walling off its influence,’’ Mr Sinkamba said.

Mr. Sinkamba said that the courts should never be swayed by emotion or sympathy.

He appealed to Judge Chitabo to review his decision of the indefinite adjournment of the on-going presidential petition so that the matter could be concluded.

He explained that in certain regions of the country, especially Southern, Western and North-Western provinces where the opposition UPND was dominant, the petition was a highly emotive issue.

He blamed the continued unruly conduct of political parties on the Office of the Registrar of Societies who he said had failed to move and deal firmly with parties that used unruly members to disturb the peace.

Mr. Sinkamba said the Registrar of Societies would have abated the unruly conduct at the High Court had he acted decisively against political party violence in the past.

“We call upon the Registrar of Societies to bring sanity in the conduct of parties otherwise the Minister of Home Affairs, Stephen Kampyongo, must move in to shuffle the heads at the institution,’’ he said.

He condemned the UPND cadres for their unruly and riotous behaviour which resulted into damage to property and the use of excessive force by the police on defenceless women.