Dear Editor,
“CHELLAH Tukuta is one of the best and talented photographers in our country, he shouldn’t be treated (jailed) the way he has been treated,” said HH when speaking to Hot FM Red Hot breakfast show presenter Peter Zulu aka Peezy via the telephone.
I was astounded by HH’s level of ignorance because to him “talented” people are above the law.
The latin maxim “Lex caecus” means the “the law is blind.” We learn new things everyday so they say and today I would like Mr. Hakaimde Hichilema to learn about Law Professor Dicey’s principle of the rule of law states that all persons shall be equal before the law.
The reason why the statue of Lady Justice at our courts is blindfolded is what I have just explained but in the ignorant world of HH, talented people like Chellah Tukuta should not be jailed because they are talented.
I thought HH of all people knows better that in our prisons are talented people who for whatever reasons broke the law.
The principle of the rule of law furthermore implies that every person is subject to the law, including people who are lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and judges.
Equality before law means that every individual is equal in the eyes of the law regardless of social status.
The same principle of rule of law espouses that all people are protected by law and it is the principle that has sent Tukuta to prison because he was a menace to society.
Tukuta thought he had rights to click on Facebook live and insult, defame or injure anybody he disagreed with and sadly HH thinks the same way too but the question I have is how many times has HH sued people for talking about privatisation? You might as well ask.
If talented people were not supposed to be jailed, talented actor and writer Owas Ray Mwape shouldn’t have been jailed, talented lawyer and politician Keith Mukata is not supposed to be serving his sentence in jail and former South African President Jacob Zuma is not supposed to be where he is today.
Not long ago the talented Ronaldinho was jailed for breaking the law, manje who is a cameraman not to get jailed mwebantu?
What HH wants to mislead Zambians into believing is that Tukuta has been jailed for taking photos of birds singing beautiful melodies.
HH is deliberately ignoring the fact that Tukuta committed a crime by defaming innocent women in the name of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is a right but this very right is not absolute.
And talking of rights, Tukuta’s human rights were respected as he was accorded a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial court of law which found him guilty of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Latin maxim “ignorantia juris non excusat” means that ignorance is not an excuse or defence, so if HH is looking for a defence for Tukuta’s crime he should not use ignorance.
MARVELLOUS SAKALA.
