By Hon. Imanga Wamunyima
The other duty of the courts is to ensure that political leaders do not become demagogues or tyrants. When the Constitutional Court ruled that Ministers held office illegally after Parliament was dissolved under President Edgar Lungu’s reign and must therefore refund their emoluments to the state, the same court being attacked today was being held as independent from political interference by the ruling party today. Yet today this court is being attacked left, right and center. What has changed? The answer is nothing has changed except the insincerity of politicians at play. Perhaps also a huge rise of Facebook lawyers.
Any functional democracy needs a firm judiciary to protect it from possible despots. It is actually laughable to see statements like ‘we accept the High Court Judgement ‘. What are you going to do if you don’t accept it? Let us be serious and agree that the Court is not an emotional base where your personal feelings must be in tandem with the law and result in an outcome. Your only recourse if dissatisfied with a Court Judgement remains in the Court process. Interpretation of the law is the preserve and function of the Courts. No statement from the Executive or more less from ECZ qualifies as interpretation of the law. Let us in this regards give the Judiciary the reverence and respect it deserves. I agree with with the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) that unwarranted attacks on the judiciary must be frowned upon.
