By Patson Chilemba
Fred M’membe has many options now, including placing a caveat on all the properties owned by Post liquidator Lewis Mosho, says former commerce minister Bob Sichinga.
But attempts to talk to Mosho over the court ruling have failed as his line has just been ringing since yesterday.
Speaking to Daily Revelation on the Supreme Court judgement which declared as nullity the liquidation of The Post newspaper by Lusaka lawyer Mosho during the PF regime of Edgar Lungu, Sichinga hailed the judgment, saying Post editor-in-Chief Dr M’membe had the option of taking several steps to address the injustice.
“There is nothing that is excluded with a fresh start. He can attach anything to say in view of the fact that this has already happened I am attaching this, this, this, the whole lot of them. What he may not be able to do at the moment, this I would have to look at the law again, is because the goods were sold and there is a third party he may not go back there because there is no longer The Post buildings there,” Sichinga said. “They demolished them. So what do you do. It’s what we call irreparable damage that’s been done, so he will do everything he can and say this is the value of my property, this was the value of this. You the liquidator now you are personally responsible. So he can attach anything, any asset belonging to that guy.”
Sichinga continued.
“The way they have done it is a retrial. It is going to go to a new request for liquidation. It has a disadvantage that the properties belonging to The Post have already been disposed off. So Fred has got his own lawyers, they will advise him. It has already taken place so you cannot talk about something you have already liquidated. You understand?” Sichinga said. “So now M’membe has got the options, the moment they go there to ask for this liquidation he will then object and say but you have already undertaken this liquidation without authority. Now he would have to ask who else is going to be the respondent.”
Sichinga said now that Mosho has been attached to the matter, he has become a subject and will have to explain everything he did, including using his own law firm while being the liquidator at the same time.
“So he was eating twice, one as liquidator, secondly as also the lawyer…By allowing him to be attached to the case, to be rejoined to the case, now M’membe obviously has got access to all the assets of that liquidator. So I am not going to suggest a specific approach,” Sichinga said. “He can take any measure which says ‘you have not acted and dealt with your fiduciary duties correctly, you did this, you did this, you did this.’ In fact even the judge who was looking after this case (Sunday Nkonde) quite frankly should be removed from the bench, because it is quite clear, he did not act in good faith. So the court itself is a failure. The manner it was liquidated clearly reflects that it was an issue of vindictiveness rather than abiding by the law.”
Sichinga said despite not being a lawyer, he knew the processes as he helped formulate the company law which was introduced in 2018, which separated the companies act and liquidation, saying it was just that he was not able to present the matter before Cabinet owing to the sickness of then president Michael Sata.
He praised the decision by Chief Justice Mumba Malila and the other justices who decided over The Post matter.
“May be time is now going to be possible to start seeing that the courts of law can exercise independent judgments, independent of political pundits and expedience…that definitely is a breath of fresh air, regardless of who was involved, whether it was Fred M’membe or somebody else,” Sichinga said. “This is a very very good sign and definitely one must commend. You can see the Chief Justice taking charge and wanting to make sure that things are done well. Everybody knew it was a scam, that Nkonde was not exercising the law. He was doing it like it was a personal thing…what was on trial was the judiciary itself.”
He said all sorts of institutions were brought in to kill The Post, to the extent that the interests of the shareholders were not even taken into account as the matter was happening just before the general elections of 2016.
“Who influenced decisions of The Post liquidation? Who was the power behind it? And you will probably know that as of today, for the first time in the history of the country, the former Mozambican president is going to court today to explain the things he did while in office. That’s what happens when immunities are removed from the president,” Sichinga said, adding that all those who participated in The Post closure can be summoned. “So if the issue was that it will point to Edgar, Edgar will have to answer. I don’t know that that is the case because obviously that is the matter that has to be dealt with in due course by the evidence that will be adduced from what actually happened in the process of what was executed.”
