Africa-Press – Zambia. Today, I want to revisit a case that many have chosen to forget a case that still echoes through the hearts of those who believe in fairness the case of Ronald Kaoma Chitotela. When you take a moment to look back and truly examine this sad chapter, you will agree with me that while justice is said to be blind, in today’s Zambia, it seems to open its eyes only to politics.
Who is Ronald Kaoma Chitotela? Many of you know him the former Pambashe Member of Parliament, a man once trusted with national responsibility. Yet today, he sits behind bars, serving 10 years in prison for arson. Yes, arson. And that’s what shocks everyone who has followed this case closely.
Out of more the all witnesses including state witnesses, only one a member of the you know party claimed to have seen him at the scene. Every other witness, from both sides, testified that Chitotela was nowhere near Kawambwa on the day of the alleged incident. He was miles away, in Lusaka.
And that one witness? When cross-examined, she told the court she was standing near a school when she supposedly saw Chitotela. But those who know Kawambwa will tell you the nearest school is over 8 kilometres away from the scene of the fire. How did she identify him from that distance? Perhaps she had binoculars like the ones PF Secretary General Nakachinda was once teased for carrying around! Yet, from that single, shaky testimony, the court built a wall of guilt around him.
And so, today, Ronald Kaoma Chitotela sits in Mukobeko Maximum Prison, paying the price for a crime he has always denied a crime that many believe was politically scripted rather than proven.
Every single application for bail pending appeal has been denied. Every plea for fairness has been silenced. Meanwhile, a daughter of a prominent senior ruling party official, arrested for murder, had her charge reduced to manslaughter and was granted bail immediately.
Two citizens. One justice system. Yet two worlds apart.
No one knows what tomorrow holds for Chitotela, but one thing remains certain when justice starts choosing sides, it ceases to be justice at all.
And just as the sun hardens the clay so Does it melts the ice.
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