WHY JOHN SANGWA WAS MADE TO PAY 5 MILLION KWACHA AS COSTS BY CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
John Sangwa has a bit of history with the judges at one of the highest court in the land. He is the man who came out in open to protect the constitution which stated that they were all unqualified to sit on the bench may be this is why they are too compromised.
What this means with the outcome of the lawsuits he takes before them, I don’t know. But, one thing I can say for certain is the 5 million kwacha costs, it was a statement to make John Sangwa think twice before taking other matters before the constitutional court.
If you followed the excitement from the PF side the day he (John Sangwa), was ordered to pay legal costs amounting to 5 million kwacha. It was as though the judgement was written at the PF Secretariat.
With that excitement, it was easy to deduce that the order was made so as to discourage him from petitioning the eligibility of the President to contest August 12 general elections.
Now that we have a case before us, and the PF has called on it’s cadres to treat John Sangwa as a political opponent. I wish to take this opportunity to call upon all well meaning citizens to treat John Sangwa as a patriot. Therefore, I wish to further call upon all of us to ensure we pay a 5 million kwacha of John Sangwa’s costs as ordered by the constitutional court on his behalf because under a normal circumstance this case is not for Sangwa vs PF no it is Zambians vs PF and we need to help Sangwa. What he was/is doing was/is representing public interest. This is one of a few people in our country ready to die for the constitution.
How could a constitutional law lecturer sit back and watch a constitution being violated at will by his students? This is a lawyer who believes without justice, is not worthy living.
Let’s all join hands to create a trust where we put the 5 million kwacha money for costs our wonderful lawyer was ordered to pay. Let’s all take care of this money and let him concentrate on preparing arguments for the court. John Sangwa must be celebrated, he is our modern day Shamwana. We can’t play with the law, constitutional matters are serious issues that we should not play with.
This is why today, we have people detained for as long as it pleases PF and the president. Because they are not respecting the constitution. Next they will be coming to our homes grab our women, properties and we will have no voice to defend ourselves. We can’t go back to stone age where leaders were lords. Leaders are to be held accountable not vice versa.
It is not the responsibility of any body in PF government to tell us how they have performed since 2011 to date. Instead it is us citizens to tell them whether we still want them or not. In this case PF must go.
Sikaile Sikaile
Good Governance and Human Rights Activist for Zambia and Amnesty International