By PRINCE MABUMBA
CONSPIRATORS who abuse institutions of Government to pursue political vendettas have no place in our democracy, former Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has said.
Dr Chilufya said such conspirators not only cause damage to their victims but also governance institutions and ultimately degrade the quality of Zambia’s democracy.
“The unfortunate so-called “Honeybee scandal” has been a hoax ab initio. How it lasted this long in the media and later in the courts of law is a sad indictment of the gullibility of individuals charged with the solemn responsibility to protect not just the state interests, but civil liberties of individuals,” Dr Chilufya said. Dr Chilufya, a PF presidential aspirant was reacting to his discharge by the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court in a case in which he and seven others were jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud the state.
Dr Chilufya was jointly charged with former Attorney General Likando Kalaluka, former Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Caroline Kakulubelwa, and Procurement Officer Wilson Lungu.
The rest are Honeybee Pharmacy Limited directors Abdurrauf Motala, Zakir Motala, and Imran Lunat, as well as pharmacist Emmanuel Mubanga.
Dr Chilufya said while this was a moment of relief that this charade had come to its logical end, he regretted to re-empahsise that this unfortunate propaganda had its origins in the misconceived ideas of leadership succession within the Patriotic Front (PF) five years ago.
“What’s sad is that governance institutions were sucked into this gullibly, leading to extended periods of anguish for those of us falsely accused,” Dr Chilufya said.
Dr Chilufya said such practices were completely adrift with the tenets of good governance.
“And in a free and democratic society, it is not sufficient to merely say a suspect had his day in court. That is cheap, and a molestation of the sanctity of the entrenched inviolability of civil rights and freedoms of individuals,” Dr Chilufya said.
He added that damage caused to the reputations of those falsely accused and the financial burden imposed in terms of legal costs was often too deep to redeem.
