BISHOP DOCKED

..Bishop Mambo squirms in Supreme Court

THERE was drama in the Supreme Court when Bishop John Mambo found himself in a contempt of court trial when he was expecting a reprimand and tried to joke his way out of it but failed.

Bishop Mambo found himself facing a full bench of the Supreme Court headed by Deputy Chief Justice Marvin Mwanamwambwa and his attempts to laugh his way out of trouble failed as he was told that trial had started since he had denied the charge.

The Bishop visibly squirmed and tried to plead for leniency from the Justices but in vain, as he was firmly told that trial would continue.

The man of God found himself on the wrong side of the law following a contempt of court charge slapped on him after he had written to the Chief Justice alleging that the judiciary was incompetent and delivered judgment in a suspicious manner in the case of Savenda Management Service Limited Vs Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited.

With a lot of posturing, Bishop Mambo yesterday begged the court to allow him engage counsel to take him through the process.

This was after he realised that trying to cajole his way out of the matter, was not working.

The Bishop told the Justices that money to hire a lawyer would not be a problem because most of the justices were his friends and would give him money.

At this point, Justice Mwanamwabwa warned Bishop Mambo that he was going too far by soliciting for money from judges. Bishop Mambo then pleaded that the words be struck off record, but the court did not respond.

State Counsel John Sangwa was called to testify and in the middle of his submission, Bishop Mambo rose and claimed he did not want to be ambushed and that he did not see Mr Sangwa’s testimony as relevant to his case.

“I am fearing how proceedings are going. I am not following my colleague. I expected to be given what I am coming to court for. Once I received the summons, I thought I should come and hear my charge but since you are proceeding with trial, permit me to engage a lawyer who can take me through this,” Bishop Mambo said. When Justice Mwanamwambwa asked why he had not mentioned that he needed a lawyer and why he had not engaged one in the seven days he had had since being summoned, Bishop Mambo said his expectation was that when he went to court, he would merely be reprimanded or warned. “I only wrote a letter and did not publish it,” Bishop Mambo said. “I have a lot of respect for the court and it appears I am being intimidated.”

Asked if he wanted to apply for an adjournment like another accused person, Gregory Chifire, facing four counts of contempt of court, had done earlier, Bishop Mambo said he was not follow- ing Chifire’s way but doing it for himself.

The matter has been adjourned to August 17, 2018. In one of the counts, Chifire is charged for allegedly giving a story to the Mast casting assertions on the characters of the judiciary, in particular, Chief Justice Irene Mambilima. Earlier Chifire denied the four counts of contempt of court and was also surprised that trial had started.

His matter was adjourned to August 12, 2018.