NASON Msoni has cautioned that wrongdoers in “moribund” institutions of justice who are sustaining Edgar Lungu’s misrule will go down with the President.
He says President Lungu will, certainly, leave behind many casualties.
Msoni, the All People’s Congress (APC) president, was commenting on the dynamics at the moment, relative to President Lungu’s third term ambition.
He said everybody, at some point, would have to be held accountable for their actions.
“Mr Lungu’s third term bid has totally and completely exposed institutions that are not fit for purpose. But those who think that they can get away with what they are doing will have a rude shock because citizens have already made up their mind for a new direction. You (wrongdoers) will go down with Mr Lungu,” Msoni said in an interview. “Insofar as citizens are concerned, they have moved on. Clinging on and threatening citizens, I’m afraid your hour of reckoning is at hand. You’ll not keep those jobs!”
Msoni added that State institutions which have become moribund are well noted by “all of us political leaders in this country.”
“Pray that no regime change comes to this country, and you’ll survive. But if regime change comes, we shall visit you and hold you accountable,” he said. “You have put citizens in a very tight corner. But be assured that Zambians will push back and when that time comes, I feel sorry for you.”
Msoni explained that President Lungu’s third term had exposed moribund and unfit institutions in the overall picture of national governance of Zambia.
“Look, the Office of the Public Protector is one office that the next government must consider to chop off – either it’s the individual or the office itself that is irrelevant in the entire scope of our country,” Msoni said. “Even when citizens have taken cases before the Office of the Public Protector, nothing came out of it. Even all cases that were taken there by late People’s Party president Mr Mike Mulongoti were all allowed to die a natural death. So, it is better to shut down that office, than to continue to fund an office that is not fit for purpose. Surely, we can save money by doing away with such irrelevant offices.”
He mentioned the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as another eyesore in justice administration.
“[It] has become so irrelevant that it only exists to go and enter nolle prosequis. Beyond that, it has shown that it has become irrelevant,” he said. “There are several other institutions that have become totally moribund and useless. In any dispensation, we expect institutions of justice to be responsive to the needs of citizens because they help to fix a society.”
He continued, saying if institutions of justice were the ones fending off citizens who were trying to seek interpretations, “then such institutions are useless, and even the officials themselves.”
“Those who think that they can keep jobs at the expense of dispensing inequitable justice, I’m afraid they may have to lose those jobs. Society cannot operate if these institutions take a partisan role,” Msoni said. “One cannot deny; what is playing out is clearly pointing to the fact that these institutions are no longer fit for purpose. They are refusing citizens to withdraw a case! Where have you seen an institution of justice behave like that? All these things are strange. When you go to court, you are free to withdraw a matter out of court and it’s not for the court to cling on to documents of a person. That’s why many of our citizens have lost confidence in our local institutions of justice.”
Msoni hopes that those who have rendered themselves unfit for those institutions will still find relevance in the near future.
“But obviously a new government must ensure that it attends to those important matters. You cannot fix society if institutions that are created to provide social equilibrium have become part of the backyard of Mr Lungu,” Msoni explained. “Look at the audacity! Even when Mr Lungu has an eligibility case in court, he goes ahead to launch his campaign. So, where does that leave institutions of justice? Are you sure such institutions are still valid and relevant to the needs of our country?”
Msoni added that: “when you are a hangman, irrespective of your sentimental attachment to your client, you have to execute your role as a hangman.”
“Whether you fell in love with that person, your job is to hang! Similarly, if you are a judge you are expected to dispense justice according to what the law says,” he said.
Msoni further complained that Zambians were now being forced to seek justice in foreign countries because they have lost faith in their own institutions.
“But it is not too late for you to do the right and decent thing,” he urged.
Msoni also said President Lungu has amassed a lot of wealth and that he is going to escape and live comfortably abroad.
“But you who are defending him by going out of your way to threaten citizens, we shall hold you accountable. Nobody is stupid that we can’t see through the smokescreen,” he said. “We have reached at a critical point when the future of this country has been put at risk by the behaviour and actions of a few people.”
Msoni told those running institutions of justice that if they decide to be part of an extension of President Lungu’s backyard, they would have a lot to lose with that development.
“Your time to be held accountable is fast coming and the question of ‘we don’t know what we were doing or we were forced to do what we were doing’ will not hold water. Mr Lungu will undoubtedly leave behind a lot of casualties, because his sins are far from over,” Msoni warned.
“In the end, the same people who are now trying to sustain Mr Lungu will pay a heavy price, from the look of things. Zambians are watching! There is no quid pro quo; that if you are given a job, then your role is to defend the appointing authority. It never works like that! There is no ‘ scratch my back, I scratch yours’.”
He added: “when you see citizens persistently coming to ask the same question [of President Lungu’s eligibility], it means that your [first] determination was shoddy.”
“It means there is a serious deficit of what is expected by citizens,” Msoni said.
He indicated that it was now time to start isolating State institutions that have become a burden on taxpayers.
“Already we know that the Human Rights Commission has become irrelevant, the Office of the Public Protector has become irrelevant, some department or wing of the Judiciary has rendered itself useless. We know that the Office of the DPP and individuals in there have become useless,” insisted Msoni. “So, prepare that when citizens finally make a decision and you find yourself in the wrong side, you’ll pay a heavy price. This is my unsolicited counsel of those that continue as if nothing will change. Nobody knows where we are going. That’s why it’s safer to play by the rules, than expediency.”