BY NATION REPORTER
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lillian Siyuni has asked president Hakainde Hichilema to lift her oath of secrecy so that she can be able to divulge the details on certain matters that have led to her being taken to the Judicial Complaints Commission (JCC) as her office does not allow her to do the opposite.
Ms Siyuni said she can only do so after her Oath of Secrecy was waived.
She submitted to the Vincent Malambo led commission that she could only do that once President Hakainde Hichilema lifted her oath of secrecy.
And the JCC has adjourned Ms Siyunyi’s matter pending a response to her request for the oath of secrecy to be lifted.
Ms Siyuni told the JCC that her matter could not proceed because she had written to the President to lift her oath of secrecy.
And Forum for Democratic Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has said President Hichilema should do the right thing and lift the oath of secrecy conferred on Director of Public Prosecution Lillian Siyuni because she had been gagged from telling the JCC the truth.
Ms Nawakwi said the DPP had requested the President to lift the oath of secrecy in order to divulge some of the issues she had been accused of as gross misconduct.
She said the DPP had a valid point and that she did not have to respond before President Hichilema responded to her.
She said it was shocking that even the Attorney General who was supposed to be the government chief legal advisor was also fighting the DPP.
“It’s unheard of for the AG to complain against an individual like the DPP and it is just an indication that this is political persecution,” she said.
Ms Nawakwi said in order to level the playing ground the President needed to lift the oath so that or those secrets that she was in receipt of by virtue of her office can be revealed.
She challenged the AG to be magnanimous and tell the president the truth because this was more like a circus which would make Zambia a laughing stock.
Ms Nawakwi said she understood the DPP’s predicament and said that the onus was with the head of state.
A number of individuals have reported the embattled DPP and those who filed complaints to the JCC against her include human rights activist Fumba Chama, alas Pilato, Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and Ultimate Insurance Corporation who attended the hearing.
Mr Chama and MMD president Nevers Mumba attended the hearing held at Commercial Courts.
According to a complaint dated December 22, 2021, filed by MMD to JCC, they stated that the DPP gave instructions that the case involving PF Publicity and Information Chairperson Raphael Nakacinda alleged to have sold the party vehicles remain closed.
“If the MMD vehicles were given back to us as the rightful owners, how come that when we want to prosecute the person who sold and distributed them illegally to unauthorized persons, the DPP has given instructions that the case remains closed? The MMD vehicles are in illegal private hands and some have changed ownership without authority, why has the DPP refused to prosecute this case of theft?
“We sense grave misconduct in this case and that we have been treated unfairly by an officer who is supposed to authorize prosecution. Would we be wrong to suspect or assume that the DPP has been compromised by the group holding on to the MMD vehicles led by the former President Mr Rupiah Banda, Mr Mutati and Mr Nakacinda,” read the complaint in part.
