NO LAWYER WAS BLOCKED FROM ACCESSING HIGH COURT PREMISES
For Immediate Release
Contact : Cheelo Katambo
Deputy Media Director – UPND
October 7th, 2024
LUSAKA – We find the statement by lawyer Dickson Jere that lawyers were not allowed into the High Court premises today as they were locked out by the Zambia Police highly misleading.
It is not true that lawyers were not allowed into the court premises by police officers that were manning the gates today during the hearing of the eligibility case of Youth Activist Michelo Chizombe and sixth Republican President Edgar Chagwa Lungu at the ConCourt.
The correct position is that police officers worked closely with Judiciary security in identifying officers of the court which included lawyers as well as everyone else who was identifiable or those that had court documents.
All lawyers and other officers of the court including Counsel Jere that had been identified by the judiciary security were allowed inside court premises. This was to ensure that the security of the litigants was assured and it is the duty of the Zambia police to ensure that law and order is maintained at all costs.
We therefore wish to advise Mr Jere and members of the public to desist from wantonly attacking the police by dragging them into unnecessary public ridicule.
We have noticed a growing trend by some members of the legal fraternity to attack members of the judiciary and police indiscriminately, something the UPND feels needs to be weighed in by the Law Association of Zambia if the two critical institutions of governance are to retain public confidence.
We last week saw Senior Counsel Makebi Zulu through his client Edgar Chagwa Lungu bringing the name of three senior ConCourt Judges into disrepute but upto now, we have not heard any word of rebuke from LAZ against its member despite the Judges making their frustration known.
The silence by the Law Association of Zambia in the midst of attacks against the Judiciary and the police especially in cases that have political undertones is becoming too loud and the UPND is getting concerned.
Being a senior member at the bar, Mr Jere should have been the first one to render a helping hand to the Zambia Police and Judiciary security considering the unnecessary political pressure that this case has exerted on the two wings of the government.
Both the police and judiciary need everybody’s support and not ridicule especially from the legal fraternity as they navigate through this and many other cases of public interest.
We therefore wish to commend the Zambia Police service for the professional manner they have carried themselves since the start of the eligibility case even under extreme provocation from overzealous political cadres.
Remember yours is to maintain law and order which has this far been professionally exhibited as we call upon politicians to avoid denting the decorum of the courts.
It is therefore not true that police officers were instructed to lock out lawyers from accessing the court premises as both Mr Lungu and Chizombe’s lawyers attended the session with the full cooperation of police officers that were providing security.