DPP CHARGES ARE GRAVE
…lift oath for her to exculpate herself, not what happened to Mutembo

By Fanny Kalonda

DEMOCRATIC Party president Harry Kalaba has challenged President Hakainde Hichilema to lift Director of Public Prosecutions Lillian Siyunyi’s oath of secrecy because she has been condemned without being heard.
Featuring on Hot FM’s Hot Seat programme on Tuesday, Kalaba said President Hichilema went overboard when dealing with Siyunyi’s issue, adding that the DPP needed to come out and state her side of the story.


“There are three things that came out predominantly in the President’s presser yesterday (Monday). The first thing is the issue of the DPP. In my view, I think the DPP has been judged. She’s not even been heard by the Judicial Complaints Commission,” he said. “I think the President went overboard with the issue of the DPP. I think she was condemned before she is even heard by the JCC, which I think is not correct and, in this vein, I would want to ask His Excellency the President to lift the oath of secrecy from Madam Lillian Siyunyi the DPP, so that she can tell also her side of the story. I think it is only fair that her side of the story is heard. I think with the oath of secrecy she is currently under; it would be difficult for her to tell us her side of the story.”


Kalala said this would prevent what happened to Mutembo Nchito from happening to Siyunyi.
Former DPP Nchito was in January 2015 hounded out of office unceremoniously by the Edgar Lungu-led PF administration and Kalaba was foreign affairs minister then.


Nchito was appointed DPP four years earlier by PF founding president Michael Sata.
“Even if you go before the JCC, there are certain things that you can’t say. But if she is given that liberty, I think in the interest of good governance and in the interest of good administration, it is only right that the DPP is heard,” Kalaba said. “What happened yesterday (Monday) was a showdown. And I don’t think that is the way it should have been because, she has been condemned. And this is how people’s careers are destroyed. This is how people lose the attraction because you know, if you don’t know the truth and something is said about me by a very senior official, it is difficult for me to really fight my way up. This is exactly what happened to Mutembo Nchito. He was hounded out. But the nation has to come to a time when we should mature to understand that the DPP’s office is independent whether the person upstairs there, the President, likes him or likes her or not.”


He argued that Siyunyi has been slapped with grave charges for which she has to exculpate herself.
“If they are doing their job without fear or favour, I think it is only important that the person is given liberty to be heard. You see, the charges that she has been slapped with, the issue of her giving indemnity to the KCM liquidator Mr Milingo Lungu are very grave which require we hear her side of the story,” he said. “We don’t want to go back to what happened with Mutembo Nchito and we couldn’t hear his side of the story. I think that it is only right to hear the DPP’s side of the story.


And Kalaba accused President Hichilema of being emotional when he addressed the media by singling out members of the Patriotic Front.
He said it was not worthy of the President’s office to single out individuals.


“Someone would ask him if the same thing Nakacinda had said about somebody from North Western or Southern, somebody from Eastern Province, would the President have been so sensitive as he was yesterday? Isn’t he reducing this whole thing where he himself is almost collapsing in the verge of regional…He has to be careful,” Kalaba said. “I think there are a lot of things that will be said about the President today and tomorrow and I think he should not be detracted by negative sentiments people may pile on him. I don’t think it is worthy of his office to start pointing out Mr Nakacinda, singling him out like that. I don’t think it is right for him to call out Nickson Chilangwa, Given Lubinda and I think it was a bit too personal. He is President and whatever he says carries a lot of weight. He needs to be more presidential in a manner he handles issues. The way he came out was a bit crude.”


Meanwhile, Kalaba advised President Hichilema against referring to the PF whenever he had a platform to speak.
“And also, the issue of him comparing to PF every time, I think the President must stop that. He’s fond of comparing the eight months to the PF and I think the people of Zambia removed Patriotic Front because they realised that PF was not going to take them to the next level of hopes. So they had to get rid of them,” said Kalaba. “He should compare himself to the aspirations of the people of Zambia. The people of Zambia are saying that the high cost of living is excruciating. I think his eight months and the levels of economic challenges, that is where he should draw his benchmarks. Not the PF because if the MMD kept referring itself to UNIP, we would not have had structural adjustment programmes that Dr [Frederick] Chiluba introduced when he became president.”

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