. Tayali

By TIMES REPORTER –
Zambian Voice executive director Chilufya Tayali has challenged Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) members who are politically inclined to declare interest and resign from the association.
Mr Tayali also urged Zambians not to allow LAZ to join the petition in the Constitutional Court because the association had been openly defending a political party which petitioned the August 11 election
outcome, and a ‘cartel’ fighting the Government.
He said in an interview yesterday that it was unfortunate that LAZ, which was expected to guide the nation on matters of national interest, had decided to take an anti-Government stand on every issue which concerned the State.
“We are meant to believe that in this instance, LAZ should not be allowed to join the petition because in all previous instances they have proved to be biased towards the opposition party.
“And we are meant to believe that their decision to join the petition hearings is to defend the same opposition party,” Mr Tayali said.
He said association members who had political ambitions should declare their interest and resign from LAZ instead of continuing to misguide the nation on matters of national interest.
“We would like to urge LAZ to remain objective and not to use the association to peddle their political ambitions,” Mr Tayali said.
He said LAZ had the mandate to provide balanced and objective opinions, hence their current conduct was a disappointment and a disservice to the Zambians.
He said the bias of LAZ against the Government was seen in their comments on various matters, including their condemnation of the closure of Muvi TV, Komboni Radio and Itezhi-Tezhi Radio where they attacked the Independent Broadcasting Authority without castigating the conduct of the media institutions.
“We are not saying that LAZ has been biased on every issue, but one can only guess which side they will take in any matter concerning the Government and this is a source of concern to Zambians,” Mr Tayali said.
He many Zambians had lost trust in LAZ as it had been infiltrated by the ‘cartel’ which would like to put a puppet-president in power so that he/she could be controlled.
Earlier, Zambia Republican Party president, Wright Musoma questioned the impartiality of Laz since most of its leadership had been compromised.
There are increasing calls for LAZ to reform and re-organise itself for its relevance in Zambia to be maintained.
It is alleged that LAZ wants to join the Constitutional Court as ‘friends of the court’ to influence the court to take a certain direction.