By Isaac Zulu
Patriot Front central committee chairman for information and publicity Raphael Nakachinda has charged that UPND government has decided to suspend Director of Public Prosecutions Lillian Siyuni so that they can replace her with a UPND surrogate so that they can advance their own agenda.
Speaking in an interview, Nakachinda said that the UPND administration wants to start abusing the justice system and that is why they have embarked on a crusade to get rid of Constitutional office holders who cannot be manipulated, such as Lillian Siyuni.
However, Nakachinda’s former boss Edgar Lungu also contentiously hounded out Mutembo Nchito from the office of DPP in very similar acrimonious circumstances .
“First and foremost, this whole issue is emanating from the fact that Lillian Siyuni had to put her foot down when the UPND were trying to abuse the justice system, particularly in the case of Milingo Lungu. She demonstrated resilience and stood by the truth and when they realised that they cannot manipulate her in order to satisfy their ego, they thought the Milingo issue was an opportunity for them to throw her out of that Constitutional office,” Nakachinda explained. “Some of the members of the JCC were involved in machinations aimed at getting rid of Lillian Siyuni. They were schemes to even take her to the bench or retire her in national interest. By they know very well that, being a Constitutional office holder, there are procedures to be followed before she can be removed from that office. These are emotional characters… their hypocrisy, lack of sincerity and truthfulness has been exposed. And because of that, they want to use all unconventional methods to get rid of her and replace her with a UPND surrogate who will be dancing to the UPND tune so that they advance their agenda.”
Nakachinda said that the decision to suspend Siyuni before she can be heard is irregular, saying she can only be suspended after establishing a prima facie case against her.
“Even that suspension that has been issued by the President, it is irregular. The JCC should have established a prima facie before suspending her. The justice system demands that both parties involved in a matter must be heard. But in this case the JCC just made a decision without giving Lillian Siyuni an opportunity to be heard. That is a kangaroo Court type decision,” Nakachinda charged. “I can tell you that that decision was made out of an annoyed President who was frustrated after being misled by his advisors and ignored some rulings from the Courts and went to campaign in Kabushi and Kwacha constituencies. And the person he has had issues with is the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions ; hence that suspension just to appease his ego. And the moment government starts going against the decisions of the Courts of Law, just know that institutions of governance are under threat.”
He explained that the same Siyuni that the UPND administration wants to remove from the office of Director of Public Prosecutions is the person that refused to proceed with the prosecution of President Hakainde Hichilema when he was charged with treason, saying UPND members celebrated her at that time.
“They have started accusing different Judges of being partisan and dismissing them, saying they belong to the PF and yet some of them served under UNIP and MMD. That lady (Lillian Siyuni) they are suspending is the one that saved President Hakainde Hichilema when he was charged with treason. She refused to prosecute him because she believed that he had not committed a treasonable offence. He might have committed another offence, but not treason. And the UPND were celebrating this woman,” said Nakachinda. “But today they want to hound her out of the office for being courageous and standing strong against wrong decisions, which obviously could have happened in the PF, and are currently going on in the UPND.”
