By SILUMESI MALUMO and ADRIAN MWANZA
ATTACKS against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Lillian Siyuni, are a gimmick to hound her out of office.
Economic Front president, Wynter Kabimba claims recent moves by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to re-arrest former Konkola Copper Mines Liquidator Milingo Lungu after the DPP entered a nolle prosequi is just a gimmick to hound out Ms Siyuni.
And Lusaka lawyer, Tutwa Ngulube, says the conduct of the DEC in the Milingo Lungu case was unprofessional because it’s only the DPP who is the custodian of all criminal proceedings in the country.
Meanwhile, the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) says while the DPP was responsible for all criminal proceedings in the country, it cannot direct the DEC when to arrest or re-arrest a suspect.
Mr Ngulube said the DEC should understand the role of the office of DPP.
The former Kabwe Central lawmaker and deputy government chief whip said it is important that people with less knowledge on law consult before taking any move.
In an interview, he said no one has powers to overturn the decision by the DPP unless instructed by that office to do so.
DPP, Lillian Siyuni, wrote to the DEC Director-General, Ms Mary Chirwa asking why she could re-arrest Mr Lungu without seeking authorisation from her office.
And Ms Chirwa in her response indicated that her office had powers to do so.
But Mr Ngulube said it seemed the DEC had no clue about the powers of the DPP which is dangerous for the country.
Government has been losing very good cases as a result of mismanagement of both cases and procedures including evidence,” Mr Ngulube said.
He also wondered why a confidential letter addressed to DEC could leak to the media.
And Mr Kabimba claimed surrogates were being used to frustrate Ms Siyuni from her position and that it was not shocking that even the likes of DEC were overlooking her recommendations as seen in the Milingo case.
He said that a number of people were positioning themselves for the position.
“This is not strange to me because they want to ensure that Ms Siyuni is frustrated so that she can be hounded out of office in preference for other lawyers,” he said.
Mr Kabimba said that the only reason that even DEC was undermining the DPP was that it was a well fermented and concocted ploy because the current DPP was appointed by the Patriotic Front.
He said it was right for the current regime to take a leaf from Michael Sata who instead of setting up a commission of inquiry against then DPP Chalwe Mchenga, he gave him a deal and promoted him to the position of Judge while Mutembo Nchito was sworn in as the new DPP.
Mr Kabimba said that the UPND was just doing what the PF were doing and that the ending for the person they would usher in office would not be good because they were setting a bad
Author
