"Laws are spider webs through which big flies pass and the little ones get caught" so said Honoree De Balzac. There seems to be double standards with the Zambian judicial system. From what I have observed, there is a separate law for the rich and another law for the poor. In two recent cases where people were arrested for having cannabis, two outcomes emerged. The accused in the one case comes from a relatively well to do family and the other one was a poverty stricken common person. The rich one was found guilty and given a two-year sentence, which was suspended. The other one was given a custodial sentence.

Is there any set of standards which magistrates and judges follow when dealing with such cases. The system of justice in Zambia is looking very suspect and corrupt. As a Legal Advisor, what are you doing to make sure that such a thing does not happen to another school going child like that one because he is so poor?

Dear worried Zambian

Nothing can be further from the truth than to conclude that the Zambian judicial system is biased on account of different outcomes for similar cases. A judge or magistrate makes a decision based on what is brought to his attention.

The Zambian judicial system follows a system known as the adversarial system. It is up to the parties involved in a case to do their part and not for the judge or magistrate to get actively involved in the case lest, his judgement is coloured.

Different judges and magistrates have different social backgrounds and perspectives and different views on life generally. Whether you accept it or not, these play a role when judges will sentence a convict to two years for theft while another will hand down a four year sentence for the same offence. That does not in anyway indicate bias or illegality. It must also be appreciated that each case has its own set of facts and circumstances that will ultimately determine the conclusion.

Upon a finding of guilt, a convict is called upon to mitigate (say things that should influence a judge or magistrate to exercise leniency). The mitigation may make a judge give the convict a suspended sentence, a fine or lesser time in prison. Failure to mitigate may see a convict get a custodial sentence or more time in prison.

Dear advisor,

I was born 30 years ago in Zambia. My father was an Angolan and my mother Zambian.

After the death of my mother, my father left me in the custody of his friend who is now in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia.

Currently, I am running a business of my own in Lusaka but I have problems with the immigration officers.

These officers asked me to get a National Registration Card (NRC). One of them instructed me to see his friend and told me I should buy an NRC from him.

The friend gave me an NRC with names which are not mine. When I inquired, this officer told me my names were foreign so it would be difficult for me to use them, as I would be suspected to be a prohibited immigrant.

He asked me to give him K1,680, 000 which I did but now he says the money was not enough and threatens to arrest me.

Can you advise me on what stages to follow because I did not renounce my other citizenship. Was the immigration officer in order to get money from me and prepare a fake National Registration Card?

Dear Madam

The power to issue NRCs does not lie with immigration officers. The Chief Registrar and other registrars appointed as such pursuant to the National Registration Act are the right people to issue NRCs. The immigration officer was certainly not in order to get money from you and issue you with an NRC. The act which the officer engaged in was criminal which the police and the Anti-Corruption Commission must investigate and appropriate action taken against the officer.

By Article 6 of the Zambian Constitution, anyone who has attained the age of 21 years and has been ordinarily resident in Zambia for a continuous period of not less than ten years, is entitled to apply to the Citizenship Board to be registered as a citizen of Zambia. You obviously satisfy the above conditions and as such are entitled to be registered as a citizen of Zambia. However, your father was an Angolan national and you are Angolan by descent. For you to be granted Zambian citizenship, you need to comply with Section 16, subsection (3) of the Citizenship of Zambia Act. That section requires you to produce a certificate of renunciation of your Angolan citizenship within three months from the date on which you shall be notified that you application for registration as a citizen has been granted. All this will be done by the Citizenship Board and you need to go to the Ministry of Home Affairs where you will be guided and directed accordingly.