Standards set by thieves
Standards set by thievesBy Editor
Tuesday July 03, 2007 [22:00]
It was a privilege for Richard Sakala to work for the government.
In exchange, Sakala had an obligation to perform honestly, efficiently, effectively and in an orderly manner all his duties and obligations. The main thing in public service or politics is integrity.
In public service or politics, true leadership requires choosing, in every instance, the position that allows you to sleep peacefully at night. If people abuse the public offices entrusted to them, they must be held accountable. And in trying to make a public servant accountable, the idea is not to disgrace him, or to harass him but simply to make him accountable.
We agree with Sakala when he says that “power should be used in a proper manner” and that “the people of Zambia repose power in the authorities so that they can use it for the betterment of society”.
We also agree with Sakala when he says that those in power should abide by the laws. This is exactly what his prosecution and conviction for abuse of office and theft of public assets was intended to achieve. How else can those in power be expected to abide by the laws if the laws are not invoked when there are transgressions?
There is a contradiction here. In one breath Sakala is calling for accountability and in another he is advocating impunity. This is simply because his is not a principled position. It is a position influenced by self-preservation, self-interest. The wrongdoings Sakala was convicted for and for which he served a jail sentence were correctly adjudicated and there is no impartial tribunal that would not have found him guilty or liable.
There is no doubt that Sakala abused his office and he stole public assets. He can appeal anywhere he wants, but he will not be able to overturn the decision that sent him to prison.
His petitioning Parliament is nothing but an act of desperation. Our Parliament is not part of the judicial process. There is a separation of powers in this country which is well defined in our Constitution. The role of Parliament is to make laws and that of the Judiciary to adjudicate. And this is what prevailed in Sakala’s case. Parliament made the laws under which Sakala was charged, tried and convicted. The Judiciary used these laws to adjudicate and sent Sakala to prison.
It is clear that Sakala, like all crooks and thieves, is trying to play smart but not necessarily being clever. It won’t do for him to try and assign to Parliament duties that our Constitution has assigned to the Judiciary.
Sakala’s general claim that the judicial system in our country is corrupt merits some examination. But if it is corrupt, who corrupted it? We know that it was the Chiluba regime, of which Sakala was part, that corrupted the then chief justice of our country, Matthew Ngulube. There is enough evidence on this issue. If there are any other judicial officers that were bribed, it is they who had bribed them and should just tell us who they had bribed and with how much. We say this because for now, there is no evidence of any judicial officer having been corrupted by those in power. The only evidence we have is of the Chiluba regime corrupting judicial officers like Ngulube. This is how they operated and probably they cannot believe that other people can do things differently. Is Sakala telling us that the magistrate or judge who handled his case was corrupt? We have no doubt that Sakala’s case was properly handled and there was no corruption whatsoever in the court’s decision to imprison him. The only corruption lies in Sakala’s own deeds or misdeeds. It is Sakala who is corrupt and not the magistrate or judge who heard his case.
Today Sakala is talking about justice and fairness in the treatment of fellow human beings. Is it because he is being made to account for his wrongdoing? We ask this question because there is nothing in the way the Chiluba regime conducted its affairs that shows any element of justice or fairness in the treatment of fellow human beings. We remind Sakala to look at the way the Chiluba regime treated the founding president of our country, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, and other leaders of the UNIP government. Look at the way they were denied their benefits and left to die in poverty and destitution while Sakala and his friends were sharing the government and parastatal houses and other assets these same people had built or established! Look at the way opposition UNIP leaders were harassed and humiliated and their party destroyed by Chiluba and his minions! Look at how Dr Kaunda was harassed and humiliated at the hands of these same people who today want to deceive us that they are the champions of justice and fairness! Look at the way they nearly killed Dr Kaunda and Dr Rodger Chongwe in Kabwe without even being remorseful about that attempted assassination! What about Chiluba’s trumped-up treason charges against Dr Kaunda, Princess Nakatindi Wina, Dr Rajan Mahtani and the late Dean Mung’omba and their detention! We will not talk about the harassment and persecution we had to endure under the hands of this same Sakala and his boss, Chiluba. It is not necessary for us to talk about this because it ended up in a dramatic way, it boomeranged on them and as a result Sakala went to prison and Chiluba and other members of their league are today facing criminal charges in our courts of law and have been found liable for defrauding the Zambian government in the London High Court.
Sakala is praising Chiluba for being a very strong man, he should know better being a jailbird that Zambian criminals are strong, they don’t easily break. Yes, Chiluba is a strong thief. Chiluba has no alternative but to pretend he did nothing wrong even when the evidence against him is clear for all to see and is insurmountable in all respects. Is it justice for a people’s servant to take more than a million dollars from pubic coffers to go and buy designer clothes from boutiques in Europe when most of his fellow citizens live on less than a dollar a day and cannot even afford the cheapest painkiller? Is that justice? Is that fair? Is that how one should treat one’s fellow citizens? We ask these questions in the Sakala style and fashion seeking honest answers which we know we can’t get from Sakala, Chiluba and their tandem of thieves. But we ask them because we know the people of Zambia will answer them in an honest way by ensuring that they support all the moves and initiatives to make Chiluba, Sakala and other members of their criminal syndicate account for their misdeeds, for their crimes against the people of this country.
Lastly, Sakala has the audacity to accuse Zambian journalists of mixing facts and their personal opinions in news reports. Anyway, criminals are very daring people because they have nothing to lose. Everything positive they get is a bonus. Sakala has totally nothing to lose because he is a well-known crook who openly abused his public office and stole government assets. Sakala, when he was at State House, abused the state media in a manner no special assistant to a president in this country has ever done. So what schooling of the media can Sakala really undertake or champion? And what standards can Sakala teach the media – the standards of thieves and crooks? Yes, there is need to separate commentary or opinions from news or facts. Most of our publications in this country do that. Their comment or opinion pages are clearly distinguished as such from their news sections. In fact, if there are any violators of this, it is the same media that is owned by plunderers, by these same crooks and thieves.
We will continue to focus on Chiluba and his tandem of thieves so that impunity is eradicated from public affairs. And we do this in the name of justice and fairness in the treatment of our fellow human beings because where there is impunity, it is not possible to have justice and fairness.
This country will not be governed on the standards set by thieves, criminals and plunderers of all hues. The people will set their own standards to deal with thieves.
Labels: CHILUBA, EDITORIAL, RICHARD SAKALA
posted by MrK @ 2:49 AM
1 Comments:
Membe, we have heard you enough on Sakala, Chiluba and all the others. Chiluba has been found "guilty" by Blairs's judge and Sakala has served his time. Please focus on corruption taking palce in Zambia today.
I want to believe the story doing the rounds that you entered into a pact with LPM not to haunt him in while in office. Do you know the real reason why the Lands ministry was evacuated after the scandal? All documents related to the powerful were removed. We expected you deal with this issue than talking about sakala chiluba every day. Twanaka.
Katele, Mabenga etc are still close to LPM??
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