By Faustine Kapama,
THE contentious case lodged by Rev.
Christopher Mtikila against Bishop Valentino Mokiwa for allegedly
dehumanising him by touching his private parts at a gospel meeting last
year, appears to be a hard bone for judicial officers at the Kisutu
Resident Magistrate's Court.
Already Senior Resident Magistrate Binge Mashabara, who was
previously assigned to hear the matter, has disqualified himself,
whereas advocate Denis Msafiri, who was appearing for the bishop in the
case, has also pulled out his service.
Court records show that Rev. Mtikila, the outspoken leader of
opposition Democratic Party (DP), lost confidence on the two for
allegedly showing interests of favouring the bishop. Mtikila alleged
that advocate Msafiri was his son and hence, could not withstand to
represent the bishop in the matter.
"The bishop dehumanised me. Msafiri is a son of my sister. How comes
my son represent him. His representation in court will amount at
exchanging my words with him. I do not think if he can withstand to hear
over my nakedness during the hearing," he told Senior Resident
Magistrate Geni Dudu.
Mr Dudu is currently hearing the civil case. The matter came for
mention last Thursday and Rev. Mtikila requested the court to strike out
the written statement of defence lodged by advocate Msafiri, for the
bishop and allow him to prove his case ex-parte (without receiving
arguments from adverse party).
"The written statement of defence was filed by an advocate, who was
engaged deliberately. It was not supposed to be on record because was
filed by the advocate who was disqualified," he submitted.
According to him, after his disqualification, the court ordered Mr
Msafiri to inform his client (the bishop) to come to court in person and
by the time of disqualification of the advocate, the filing of the new
written statement of defence had gone beyond the 42 consecutive days.
"Furthermore, the first defendant (bishop) has never come to the
court to ask for any remedy to the predicament of this case. It is
principal of law that silence means consent. You have the duty to
protect the propriety and dignity of the court. Justice delayed is
justice denied," Rev. Mtikila told the magistrate.
In his short ruling, however, Magistrate Dudu rejected the request by
Rev. Mtikila for ex-parte proof of his case after considering that
there was a valid written statement of defence filed by the defendants
on record. He ordered that the parties would meet on October 10, this
year, to assess whether the filing of the pleading of the case have been
concluded before moving to the next stage of directing the litigants to
hold mediation prior to going for full trial of the matter.
