By NATION REPORTER
VICE President Mutale Nalumango is offside for defending the torture of the three juveniles by Zambia Army officers for alleged defamation of the President, Patriotic Front (PF) acting president Given Lubinda has said.
Mr Lubinda said that Zambia is subscribed to the Commonwealth law which states that an individual cannot be punished without a competent court finding them guilty.
He said that it was wrong for the vice president to defend the actions by the Army because it was not their jurisdiction to deal with defamation cases but the police.
Mr Lubinda said in as much as what the juveniles did was very wrong, the action against them was equally wrong as the act was uncalled for. It was wrong for the officers to take matters in their own hands.
He said citizens needed to be on the lookout because the vice president was allegedly trying to abrogate the law.
“The vice president is trying to promote inhumane torture on a fellow individual and the vice president should know those facts, but she wanted to impress the head of state,” he said.
Mr Lubinda said Ms Nalumango was a member of parliament when the anti-torture law was being passed.
“Zambia’s justice system is threatened with people like the vice president at the helm because she has proved to believe in instant justice,” he said.
He said the move by the vice president was against the tenets of the Commonwealth law which the country subscribes to.
He said that it was evident that the UPND were not applying the law fairly as was the case with PF member Chishimba Kambwili who had been detained in Kasama over alleged tribal remarks.
Mr Lubinda said that the case of Mr Kambwili was one sided because some members of the UPND had made similar remarks but that they were not prosecuted just because they belonged to the ruling party.
He said the law enforcement agencies needed to ensure that they were fair in dealing with such matters.
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