… Nakacinda offside for making outrageous claims – State House
State House has dispelled allegations that President Hakainde Hichilema has been summoning judges to State House in a bid to threaten and coerce them to make them make decisions favouring the UPND.
Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Bwalya yesterday said that President Hichilema had never at one time called any judge to State House because he respected the judiciary and wanted it to be autonomous.
Yesterday PF Chairperson for publicity Raphael Nakacinda challenged the president to deny meeting anyone from the judiciary.
He said he had all the details and challenged President Hichilema to indicate whether he was lying or not.
Mr Nakacinda said that State house was a public institution and that information was known despite the President undertaking meetings discreetly.
‘’I have told you that the President is threatening them to manipulate decisions that will favour the UPND and if they deny then we are going furnish the details,’’ he said.
But Mr Bwalya said the allegation was contemptuous and a direct attack on the integrity and independence of the Judiciary.
He said it was wrong for Mr Nakacinda or any other member of the public to insinuate that Judges were receiving instructions from a third hand in order to distort the direction of a matter actively before the courts of law.
Mr Bwalya said It must be emphasized, that the new administration would continue to reaffirm the independence of all arms of government, including the Judiciary, as well as assuring the freedom of speech for all citizens, but further that such freedom must be exercised and enjoyed within the confines of what the law prescribed, while any potential transgression of the law under the guise of freedom of speech must be subjected to the due review of law enforcement agencies to ensure that no infringement has been caused.
‘’Citizens are urged to continue to exercise their constitutional freedoms with caution and restraint, while law enforcement agencies must not hesitate to hold accountable those who will abuse basic constitutional freedoms to peddle malicious and baseless attacks against other members of the public especially those who cannot publicly defend
