Are Zaheeda’s Revelations Saying Something About The State Of The Rule Of Law Under Rupiah Banda?

In the last few days, the nation came to know of a set of allegations made by former Mahtani Group Legal counsel Zaheeda Essa and it should be mentioned that the scope of the revelations that have been made in her affidavit are far reaching and if approached from a broad perspective could upon thorough reflection lead to the unearthing of helpful insights about what was going on and the greater good for our country.

Further, from the issues that are core to the affidavit it is of primacy to understand that these are matters that largely border on the governance of our nation and it is helpful to be reflective, level headed as we attempt to analyze what could have become of the rule of law and institutions of governance during the subject period and if there are any lessons to be learnt from the aforesaid.

While the said revelations made against Sakwiba are presently subject of the legal practitioners committee under LAZ and those relating to alleged extortion are rightly placed under police, the depth of the allegations cannot and will not escape journalistic reflection and analysis.
From an analysis of the premises raised in the affidavit, what is common is that institutions of governance such as the Drug Enforcement Commission seem to have been subject of Sakwiba and his client’s (Ventriglias & Salama) discretion who seem to have closely worked with former president Rupiah Banda who is alleged to have partaken in their machinations.

Without prejudicing matters before both the legal practitioners committee and the police, it is evident that Sakwiba seems to have turned himself into some form of professional mafia that went about wounding all that were connected to his and his client’s enemy Mahtani. Sakwiba and his client’s agenda to satisfy their hurt for Mahtani seemed to have got him fully intoxicated such that he somewhat forgot that he had a body of ethics in his profession that he had to abide by and today we hear of the matter before the legal practitioners committee.
It is further disheartening to learn of the circus that DEC under Sakwiba’s supervision engaged in the process of their investigations.

The officers from DEC seemed blatantly compromised and unprofessional in the manner that they handled Zaheeda all in an effort to make her completely vulnerable and subtract from her loyalty to her employer. It is alarming to learn of the tricks that Sakwiba who was once a respected lawyer engaged in all because he wanted to have Mahtani’s life subjected to undeserved torment through bringing his empire to a halt.
In the wake of the subject affidavit, it may be safe to hold that these allegations certainly give credence to strong views and speculations that Mahtani’s problems that among others saw the sale of FBZ by Rupiah’s regime were actually a creation of Sakwiba and Rupiah inter alia who blessed his clandestine activities. For many Zambians of good will it is largely believed that the problems that were faced by FBZ were merely concocted so as to settle some old score with one of the major shareholders namely Mahtani. It is grossly disturbing to learn of the manner in which the institutions of governance that are supposed to entrench the rule of law were abused all for the benefit of a group of individuals who could pay their way to the corridors of power.
Over and above, if Zaheeda is found on firm ground, this would really aggravate the already bad record of Rupiah Banda in government and the broad destruction that was occasioned to many institutions of government under his reign. For Sakwiba Sikota, it all seems that his reputation continues to dissipate owing to his inclination to be a user friendly avenue of clandestine moves aimed at achieving selfish interests.

That said, one can only make one accurate conclusion that the formation of an NGO under the name; Coalition for the defense of Democratic rights of Zambia by Sakwiba Sikota and a well known political mercenary namely Robert Amsterdam, is nothing but a ploy aimed at protecting his past unethical conduct as a lawyer and money monger under Rupiah Banda. Sakwiba and his minions want to create a perception that PF government is persecuting political opponents using this NGO, so that when his time comes to answer for the wrongs and injustices he is alleged to have committed, he would have already labeled it political persecution with the hope of winning public sympathy both locally and internationally.

Posted by Admin on October 8, 2012. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.