STATEMENT: RESPONSE TO PF SECRETARY GENERAL, WYNTER KABIMBA [By Brig Gen Godfrey Miyanda – 25th August 2013] The PF Secretary General (SG) and Minister of Justice, Hon Wynter Kabimba, was recently interviewed on the UK-based Cross Fire Blog-talk radio. In answer to a question about his partisan stance, and in reference to me, said, inter alia, that “I hope General Miyanda is listening to this interview”, adding that the interview had given him a chance to send a message to me and asked Zambians to judge me. I was not then aware of the interview but I have since listened to it. His comment challenged me to respond; this I now do. I have narrowed my response to the personal attacks he rained on me because they are irrelevant, lack merit and are misleading. SG Kabimba was asked to comment on my call for him to be moved from his ministerial appointment. He dodged the question and misled himself as he usually does, even in court! After claiming that he was reluctant to respond, he said the following, inter alia: “I have a lot of respect for Brigadier General Miyanda; I am disappointed that he has reduced national issues to personalities; he is a failed politician; this is a man you never hear about unless in an election period; this is a man who today does not have one councillor or even half a councillor; this is a man harbouring frustrations and is bitter about the world; etc, etc.” This was his answer to a specific caller from Kitwe - some respect indeed! At no time in my public statement titled “Minister of Justice or PF Partisan Cadre?” or even during the interview at Cross Fire was I personal. My statement was factual and was published by the Daily Nation, the Zambian Eye and, I understand, it was posted on the Cross Fire blog site. I did NOT call for his removal from his appointment but I called for his TRANSFER from the Ministry of Justice which is the bastion of our democracy! Before I wrote the article I was not aware that SG Kabimba secretly sought the Opinion of the Solicitor General regarding the case involving three MMD and UPND MPs, whose election had been nullified. The correspondence was ‘exposed’ by the Post newspaper, probably NOT intentionally! The Post expose’ also revealed that SG Kabimba passed that Opinion on to Messrs Ellis & Co, the PF lawyers. A legal opinion is a serious legal analysis and/or assessment of a legal question to arrive at possible strategies and/or options in a case. I know that the lawyers at Ellis & Co. are of high repute and I would be astonished if they advised their client to formally consult Government lawyers and obtain a written opinion! One of the lawyers at Ellis & Co., State Counsel Bonaventure Mutale, is a former Attorney General! I consider the Minister’s act to be irregular because it is not usual for private litigants, let alone political parties, to obtain such an opinion from the legal advisors of the Government, in a matter which clearly involves opposition political parties, the MMD and UPND. Of course it is normal for lawyers to consult other lawyers, but I say that it is even mischievous to seek the opinion of the Government, their adversary! This is why I challenge the PF SG to disclose the retainer paid by the PF for the Solicitor General’s services. I doubt that this issue has arisen or been raised before; therefore it called for a sober legal response. What would happen if all litigants begun seeking the legal opinion of the Attorney General’s Chambers (where the Solicitor General is housed)? Have the Attorney General’s Chambers billed the PF for the Opinion thus rendered? More ominously, after receiving this opinion, SG Kabimba announced that he was going to “engage the courts”, and before we knew it there was a response at break-neck speed presumably by those he “engaged”! Is there collusion between the Attorney General’s Chambers and the lawyers for the PF? SG Kabimba has a lot to answer. Perhaps he should have been cross-examined on oath regarding whom he “engaged” at the courts! I raised questions of public interest which, ordinarily, lawyer Kabimba should have been raising, instead of creating them. During the Cross Fire interview SG Kabimba did not propound any law that was guiding him regarding his claim that the Acting Chief Justice was engaged as Chief Justice on contract. In my debate I discussed the law; the least I expected was for him to discuss legal aspects instead of being personal. It is illogical to suggest that if a party has no MPs or councillors then they have no right to participate in national debates or raise concerns about the governance of our country – cadre mentality. As a matter of fact after the 2001 elections, the PF had no MPs while the Heritage Party had four MPs and fifty one councillors! Yet PF continued raising issues freely without let or hindrance! Surely, is managing a political branch the yardstick for high level national leadership? How has that helped the PF President in the governance of Zambia? Which branch did Obama or George Bush, Clinton, Thatcher, John Major, etc, etc ever hold? I urge the PF leadership to up-grade the level of debate by debating issues and discouraging partisan and personal responses on national questions. Yes; let Zambians be the judge, not of Godfrey Miyanda, but of the partisan “Minister of Justice”. I again challenge him to a debate either here at home or on Cross Fire Blog Talk or any other such media. GODFREY MIYANDA, BRIGADIER GENERAL, PRESIDENT, HERITAGE PARTY [25TH AUGUST 2013]
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 06:46:23 +0000
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