TODAY'S LETTERS

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 10:20:35 +0000

 HH is not assassination material

Dear Editor,

I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I hear Hakainde Hichilema’s claims that there is an assassination plot by the Government.

Okay, I wanted to laugh because it was my biggest 2016 joke. And if I wanted to cry, it would have been because such a plot is totally unthinkable.

Surely, who in their right frame of mind would want to kill a loser?

There is absolutely nothing at stake either to lose or gain from a loser who by nature is someone who is harmed or put in a worse position because they have failed to achieve what they wanted.

The trouble is that HH thinks he is president. He should look into the mirror instead of overrating himself in the public eye.

Like Home affairs minister Stephen Kapyongo correctly put it, HH has no political value to assassinate.

Those who have fallen off the ladder will tell you how painful it is to be a loser.

Josiah Soko

Salima Road, Matero

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Lessons from the Kenyan constitution and judicial reforms

Dear Editor,

The question before us after the appointment of Zambia’s former Supreme Court judge Justice Frederick Chomba to be amongst nine judges that the then outgoing Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki had appointed to the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board and judges Mwiinde Siavwapa and Edward  Musona’s refusal to stay their rulings on nullification of parliamentary seats held by two PF members of parliament  – what have we, as Zambians, learned?

Then again, thinking about the two ministers, Nkandu Luo and Margaret Mwanakatwe’s attempts at filing notices of appeal in the Constitutional Court against the rulings delivered by the two High Court judges, perhaps the question is – have we actually learned the right lessons?

It is not difficult to see why our motherland, Zambia is in such a dire need of judicial reforms.

In contrast, Kenya’s judicial system has been on the mend, following the promulgation of that country’s current Constitution.

So in Kenya, a sense of never again appeared to have driven the implementation of its current Constitution and judicial reforms shown by the actions of government officials.

The Kenyans deserve to be commended for undertaking a radical overhaul of their judiciary, which was in the past accused of many things, including negative ethnicity and corruption.

Similar to the prevailing Zambian scenario prior to the amended Constitution, they had situations where one would file an election petition and the parliamentary term ended before one’s petition was heard.

As a result, the litigants did not trust the courts. And who could blame them?

In a nutshell, Kenya now has a new constitution and judicial transformation’s been underway.

And public scrutiny of judicial and constitutional officers has now been in vogue – where else would you find a new electoral commissioner and his staff being grilled live on TV before being appointed?

Where else would you find the Chief Justice and his Deputy, and Supreme Court judges, and even the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), going through gruelling vetting sessions live on TV before being appointed?

Where else would you see the Inspector General of Police (IG) going through the same grilling on a live TV programme before getting his appointment?  Except in Kenya!

Furthermore, to bring credibility back to the Kenyan Judiciary, a brand new Supreme Court was set up and given the mandate to determine presidential elections.

It alone had the power to do so in the country.

The Supreme Court was competitively recruited with open advertisements and rigorous vetting by the Judicial Services Commission, and only after that were the successful judges appointed.

It was a very thorough process, which was expanded to cover all judges, including even those who were already in office before the current constitution.

Everybody who had been a judge before was vetted

to give confidence to the public in general and the litigants in particular.

Where else could this be done? Only in Kenya!

There is one more unlearned lesson – that the position of DPP may hold office for a single 8-year term and was not eligible for re-appointment.

In addition, the Kenyan constitution makes it mandatory that the DPP does not require the consent of any person or authority for the commencement of criminal proceedings; and in the exercise of his functions, he is not under the direction or control of any person or authority, including the President.

Under the current Kenyan constitution, to avoid any political meddling in the IG’s duties, the Constitution mandates that no person including the President may give a directive to the IG with respect to: (a) the investigation of any particular offence or offences; (b) the enforcement of the law against any particular person or persons; or (c) the employment, assignment, promotion, suspension or dismissal of any member of the Police Service.

All this was to ensure transparency, and to make sure that national peace, law and order was never endangered. Where else could this be done? Only in Kenya!

If we, Zambians, are to learn lessons from the contemporary State of the Kenyan Constitution and its transformed judiciary in order to struggle for an untainted Zambian judiciary with social justice then we have to revisit the debate that puts Zambia’s amended Constitution first that must not leave out judicial reforms.

Let alone the formation of the Zambia Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.

The lesson then is straight forward as the question – any solution that undermines Zambia’s amended Constitution and the reforms in the judiciary is not a solution at all.

Mubanga Luchembe

LUSAKA

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Let’s learn from Ghana democracy

Dear Editor,

I write to implore Zambian politicians to learn something from the way Ghana has embraced democracy and are actually moving forward.

The losing candidate in the just ended Ghana Presidential elections John Mahama confessed that his loss was more because of isolating the majority poor and vulnerable of that country on the wrong advise from his inner most advisers.

He goes on to admit that the hate for impunity can win. He says the success and failure of a leader depends on the people he or she surrounds himself/herself with.

It is the more reason late President Michael Sata would take his own personal drive to prove that the people surrounding him are not merely misleading him but giving him relevant information for the benefit of the general citizenry and the country at large.

Politicians have a tendency of only wanting to listen to positives than negative, yet the latter should actually be the basis to make one excel if thoroughly investigated and nurtured.

In politics, power is with the people much of which the majority are the marginalised, poor, youths, widows to name but a few.

It is very common in most politicians that just after elections, they tend to forget, harass and avoid the majority vulnerable.

So let those with ears hear.

Wisdom Muyunda

CHINGOLA.