P
olitical Commentator Chilufya Tayali has given his opinion and analysis on the events of the presidential election petition hearing of Friday, September 2, 2016.
Here is his take:
If you think, issues are just flowing naturally at the Concourt, I am here to tell you that, you are being naive.
Chilufya Tayali
If you are on the PF side, especially in the Presidential team and the legal team, and you are complaisant, I am here to sound a warning for you, because this case can turn very sour to cause running stomachs to all of us.
To be honest with you, the PF side is trailing behind by 2 goals.
It is a fact that, the UPND started on a bad note because they didn’t have the right coordinates to launch missiles on the case and cause fatal damages.
The evidence of this is the time they took to file in the case and the poor evidence which they wanted to reinforce on Monday 22.08.2016 but thrown out by the Court.
Robert Simeza
John Sangwa
However, the coming in of two new dangerous players in the name of John Sangwa and Robert Simeza changed the ball game.
Sangwa and Simeza working together, can be very lethal. It is enough to have one of them on your side, but if you put them together, it becomes too dangerous to face any batch of judges.
When some of us were against the appointment of play boys to be national lawyers, it is such situations we were thinking of.
As far as I am concerned, our national legal team at the moment is not good enough for challenging cases such as this one.
I hope and pray they will be changes on our national legal team.
It is wrong to give big jackets to young boys even if they have big bodies.
John Sangwa
Anyway, Sangwa and Simeza (not to disrespect them but just for the purpose of this article) brought an arsenal of weapons and equipment in this case, which made them take time to get ready for trial.
They could not make a fool of themselves to get into trial with poorly organised evidence of Martha Mushipe (voting 6 times)
However, you can be rest assured that, these lawyers, collectively, have run around to pick on something to do damage to this case.
Keith Mweemba (middle)
Don’t also underrate the mind of the young Keith Mweemba, which runs at a Ferrari motor spot speed. The young man Keith is an investigator so you just never know what he may lay hands on and put it against Priscilla Isaacs.
Gilbert Phiri’s bull-courage can be dangerous to scare witnesses such that, they may admit to what they did not do. Strong voices be very intimidating to confuse a witness in Court.
Madam Zalomesi and Mrs. Mushota may also bring in something to the party out of their long experience at the Bar. Already the few submissions of Zalomesi, looked dangerous.
Of course Martha Mushipe brings her “immunity” to tell of Judges whatever she feels, which acts like a cover, while the Sangwa boys launch the attacks.
You may think, I hate HH, but I don’t, actually I admire the man in some things. HH is resilient, hardworking, detailed and a boss, so he makes sure he follow issues properly. Which is why he is rich.
HH does not bother about trivialities like designer suits, shoes and ties, because he focuses on the bigger picture. I can imagine how he is pressing on his lawyers to do their best. On Friday, he stayed in Court whole day, I even wonder if he eat.
Of course many people underrate the the 5 brains of GBM, but if you were in Court last Friday, you should have heard my big brother addressing those Judges, proving that he is a Veep of substance.
This is a team of lawyers that the Respondents are facing and I think they should not be complaisant otherwise, what happened on Friday can repeat itself on the last day.
If petitioners would win this petition, that would be the end of PF, because HH and GBM would win a re-run due to the fact that, they would have shown brevity while Edgar would lose credibility.
What I am talking about here are issues that would happen and only a fool goes to war ill-prepared.
The PF needs to put in their WHOLE or else they are done and buried. Their (or should I say our) savior is the Presidency of Edgar Chagwa Lungu otherwise hell will swallow us.
It is highly likely that all those lawyers will come back tomorrow to finish what they started.
The lawyers for UPND abandoned the case on a technical note.
John Sangwa insisted that the Court allocate time to each party so that he can do what he exactly did. It was like putting the ball on the hand of a defender in the 18 area for a penalty, then giving the captain (HH) to score.
All the UPND lawyers left the Court saying, there was no time to prosecute the case, so now that, there is time, they will come back.
A number of applications were dismissed on account of lack of time, but now that, there is time, they renew those applications especially the one to bring in more witnesses.
From my point of view, the UPND team are not done with tricks, we should expect more, because the Sangwa boys are no play. They seem to be working on play station 64 while that lawyer No.1 is on play station 2.
Something fundamental must be done otherwise….. I am honestly scared.
I am not sure of what to think about the Judges because they seemed to have changed from the way they started the cases in the morning and how they were in the afternoon and in the night.
In the morning, they seemed pressed with time but later on they did not care, as if they knew the plan of the UPND lawyers to delay the matter until late then leave HH and GBM like orphans so that they can ask for arms of time from the judges.
Judge Chibomba was almost breaking down as she read the ruling passed on to her by Judge Mungeni, as if it was a sorrowful message. I wonder why she was almost breaking down while in the morning she was full of vigor in her voice and in full control to handle all the lawyers.
Judge Sitali was totally broken down by HH’s relentless personal attack as if she was caught performing witchcraft in a village.
People have been saying that HH has powers from whatever, but, I don’t think so, the man (HH) just took advantage of the floor that he was given, without contest or rules, to just talk anyhow, including calling people in the audience thugs.
HH in court
There was no one to challenge HH, he was given enough leeway to breakdown almost, all the judges such that, I would not be surprised if they were no crying in the chambers.
Somehow, I think they got intimidated and just thought of giving this man what he wanted otherwise, they could have wondered if they would find their families at home.
I really wish, I was a lawyer to stand up to HH because he spoke like he owns the World while all the lawyers and Judges listen attentively.
Abyd Shoonga tried but it was not so forceful to stop the Tonga Bull from bully everybody, including hammering Shoonga for opening his mouth when he was lecturing us.
The AG, Kalaluka, tried to roar but it was like a baby lion and so HH continued with the free flow of words.
GBM was more respectful in the manner he spoke in Court, than they way he insulted me on phone.
Anyway, tomorrow is another day and I hope the Respondents’ legal team will be up for battle otherwise, this case could be hell for many of us. I insist, something legally fundamental must be done to turn the tables otherwise, everything is possible in court, even 14 days can turn out to be 20 days or a month.
They say forewarned is forearmed
The Goldern boot and man of the match for last week in the Concourt goes to John Sangwa.
Best Goal scored goes to HH.