By Scoop Reporter
I CHALLENGE my former lecturer, John Peter Sangwa, to relinquish his rank of State Counsel today if he feels he should do so, Kabwe Central Member of Parliament Tutwa Ngulube has said.
Last week, Mr. Sangwa, who is a constitutional lawyer, said the rank and dignity of State Counsel is not chivala mulomo, adding that being a member of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) does not abolish any lawyer’s freedom of expression.
He says if the objective of the Letters Patent given to State Counsel is to stop the recipients from speaking out on governance issues, then he is willing to relinquish his Letters Patent, as it would be a form of corruption.
But Mr. Ngulube has challenged Mr. Sangwa to go ahead and relinquish his status instead of hiding in the rank of State Counsel to fight other people’s battles, which he says will not help him.
“I am aware that recently JPS, as we called him 20 years ago, was apologising for attacking the Judiciary and he went to lengths of putting up a written apology. We all thought it was genuine. Today, he sounds like someone is stopping him from talking.
“To you JPS, the best arena for you is politics so that we take you on as our opposition. Hiding in the rank of State Counsel to fight other people’s battles won’t help. So, if you are serious about that, write to the Law Association and the Republican President so that the Judiciary can be informed accordingly.
“In fact, the State you are attacking in the media can be engaged through established channels. Even in churches, we have a chain of communication. You can’t just stand up and start punching everyone in the streets. In fact UPND is about to go for a convention. They can give you a position even a chairman of Legal because you represented HH in the petition where you miscalculated the 14 days,” Mr. Ngulube said.
