The High Court judge, Kenyatta Nyirenda has refused to be bullied by Anti Corruption Bureau director Martha Chizuma who wanted the learned judge to recuse himself from presiding over a case in which former Inspector General of Police, George Kainja is challenging the decision of the ACB to arrest him based on foreign evidence.
The bureau had asked the judge to recuse himself on the pretext that he is an interested party in the matter, a plea that was challenged by Kainja.
Unfortunately, the graft-busting body failed to provide the evidence to support their claims about Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda.
The judge observed that there has been a ploy by Chizuma’s social media lieutenants such as Onjezani Kenani and Idriss Nassah to discredit any judge that presides over corruption cases and lawyers who represent the accused persons. These judges and lawyers have erroneously been labelled as unethical, corrupt and crooked for simply doing their work.
“So far there has been a deliberate crusade to intimidate lawyers from representing the Claimant and judges against making orders in favour of the Claimant,” reads part of the ruling.
The ruling faults the ACB for conniving with a host of social media influencers and giving them information not privy to them in any way.
“Consequently, it is not far from the truth that the 1st Defendant has been working with some influential social media influencers and commentators such as Onjezani Kenani and Idriss Nassar to negatively influence the judiciary against the Claimant.”
Judge Kenyatta in his ruling said the ACB failed to make out a case for his recusal before throwing the bureau’s application with costs.
The ACB has since applied for stay of the judgment