Today's Letters

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 09:45:33 +0000

The Courts Of Law should be Left Alone to Deal With HH’s Case

Dear editor,

The thinking by some section of society that HH should be pardoned by the president is not only absurd but also bad  at law.

This country is governed by laws not classes, it is disheartening to hear those who  should be guiding some of us who are not experts at law to understand that in this country no one is above the law advocating that HH must be released before the Courts conclude his case. How many of zambians have left their families and are languishing in prison to answer to their  crimes they committed?  Others by mistaken identity, others by circumstances beyond their control, are they not human beings as well? where has Isaac Mwanza of Yali been when all our prison facilities were getting full with 90% of zambians for him to claim that he is a human rights defender in the case of HH? Is it because he is rich? Or is it a case of wanting to be liked by the western imperialists? Whatever the case, let us leave the Courts of law to adjudicate the case conclusively, that is when the president can consider using his prerogative of mercy if HH is convicted. It is premature to call for that. Actually HH has not even shown remorse going by his party’s many misguided statements. It is also laughable to hear the so called governance experts and some bogus economists pointing to the fact that zambian international profile is being damaged by the arrest of HH. In fact, it is achieving the opposite because the investers and the international community in general look at whether the laws of the land are followed by both the government and the citizens of that particular country and how strong the justice system is. What is wrong with us zambians? Citizens in other countries fight to protect the law, anyone who breaks the law is made to answer to his or her crime without interference from the citizens regardless of his or her class  in society. No wonder the Americans want to know the truth whether Russia and the Trump campaign team colluded to influence the presidential election outcome in that country today, they are not looking at who is involved here, they are looking at whether the president’s campaign team broke the law of the land. If we allow the politicians to get away with murder, the prison facilities in this country will not be improved because it will only be for the poor ordinary citizens, the arrest of HH is a lesson to all politicians that every zambian is a potential prisoner. It is for this reason that I wish to commend the current government for bringing sanity. Today, every class of zambian citizen can either be arrested or pardoned by the authority using the existing laws. This is how it should be not looking at names. I urge the government to continue to follow up on all those that are breaking the law including those that are stealing from government by working with the private businesses by inflating the prices of goods and services that are procured by government. This kind of crime has reached unacceptable levels and should be fought with the seriousness, otherwise the government is losing lots of money. Let us learn to advise our friends to live in the way of jehovah so that we can avoid what happened to HH.

Enock

Lusaka

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Kudos to Frank Bwalya

Dear editor,

I must say I am happy and delighted by the work of PF Deputy Spokesperson Frank Bwalya is doing for Zambia. Please, let him keep it up.

In addition, I have been a fervent observer and critic of the UPND legal chairman Jack Mwiimbu’s antics both in Parliament and beyond that smack of arrogance and incompetence. In sharp contrast, I commend the PF Deputy Spokesperson for rubbishing claims by UPND lawyers that the rights of Hakainde Hichilema have been violated following his transfer from Lusaka Central Prison to Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe that they were totally incorrect because Correctional Authorities have the discretion to keep remandees in facilities they deem fit in the national interests. As expected, it could also have caused consternation in some quarters of the Zambian society (“HH transfer not unconstitutional”, Sunday Nation, June 11, 2017).

Worringly, the Mast newspaper has continuously been publishing news stories purportedly to have come from incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema’s interviews while in prison. Meanwhile, Zambia Correctional Services (ZCS) commissioner general Percy Chato recently advised that it was illegal and wrong for the incarcerated UPND leader to give interviews while he was in prison. And when the ZCS authorities reacted with stringent measures, Jack Mwiimbu and his cohorts, cried foul with impudence and impunity.

Then I began wondering what these UPND lawyers take us for. Why should they defend something overtly illegal and wrong done by their leader while in prison at Lusaka Central Correctional Facility? What is so special about Hakainde Hichilema that he could not be transferred to Mukobeko Maximum Prison?

When his Ugandan political twin Kizza Besigye was arrested in downtown Kampala, charged with treason and flown to Moroto Maximun Prison, where he has been in custody ever since. No Ugandan lawyer cried foul that Besigye’s rights were violated. Besides, our own former first president Kenneth Kaunda was once arrested in Lusaka, charged with treason and remanded at Mukobeko Maximum Prison during the MMD regime of late former second president Fredrick Chiluba. Did UNIP lawyers cry foul over this? Not to anybody’s knowledge. So, Jack Mwiimbu give Zambians a break from your legal theatricals in public.

It appears it’s the UPND and other one-man political party opposition leaders’ decision to defend this kind of illegal activities in prison while at Lusaka Central Correctional Facility by the incarcerated UPND leader and Jack Mwiimbu was just speaking on their behalf. Thank God PF leaders have been able to stand up against it. How long their diligence will last, only God knows. We, as the law-abiding Zambian people, need to beware of the devil within the UPND. And Thank God, that PF is fighting back!

Mubanga Luchembe,

LUSAKA

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Nothing wrong with transferring HH to Mukobeko Maximum Prison

Dear editor,

The United Party for National Development party leader, Hakainde Hichilema who is facing treason charge and his five co-accused were transferred from Lusaka Central Prison popularly known as Chimbokaila  to Mukobeko Maximum Prison on Friday June 9, 2017.

The UPND leader and his co-accused were committed to the High Court on June 7, 2017 considering the nature of the offence they committed. Treason case is a felony meaning that it is  a serious crime which can only be presided over by the High Court.

Transfer of the suspect from one prison to another is the jurisdiction of the prison authority. The Prison Correctional Service has the mandate to transfer any suspect to any prison facility it deems fit. The transfer of the suspects like president Hichilema is to decongest the prisons If truth be told, it is this one: president Hichilema is not the first suspect to be transferred from one prison o another neither is he the last one. Former president Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda was transferred from Kamwala Remand Prison to Mukobeko Maximum Prison in 1998. By virtue of president Hichilema not yet being convicted does not mean that he is immune to be transferred to another prison facility within the country.

Some UPND members and a clique of Hichilema’s sympathisers are demanding for his immediate release from prison. They further allege that their opposition leader has no case and he is just being persecuted by the Patriotic Front administration.

The above insinuations are not true. There is nothing like persecuting president Hichilema. He is very much innocent until proven guilty according to the maxim of Zambian law. Let the due process of law take its course and there is no one interfering with the judiciary neither President Edgar Lungu. Judiciary works independently.

Hichilema’s sympathisers should not cry foul over the transfer of him to Mukobeko Prison because there is nothing wrong with that.

 ELEMIYA PHIRI, Lusaka.