By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE-
CONVICTED former youth and sports deputy minister, Steven Masumba may face contempt charges if the court establishes that he authored the content of a story in which he was attacking the character of a high court judge.
Masumba, who is Mufumbwe Member of Parliament (MP) currently serving a 12 months sentence for using a dubiously obtained accounting technician diploma, was quoted in a story published on October 4, 2014 in one of the daily newspapers, attacking Judge Chalwe Mchenga’s character.
Mr Justice Mchenga upheld the Lusaka magistrate’s court judgment in which Masumba was convicted and imprisoned to 12 months for dubiously obtaining the diploma from the National Institute of Public administration (NIPA.
The judge also declined to grant Masumba bail pending his appeal against the conviction on grounds that his chances of succeeding in his appeal were not high.
But Masumba, who has since appealed to the Supreme Court for his bail, allegedly issued a handwritten letter in which he attacked Mr Justice Mchenga over his decision to decline him bail.
When Masumba’s bail hearing came up before deputy acting chief justice Mervin  Mwanamwambwa yesterday, the judge said he was concerned with the statement attributed to Masumba which the court feels is contemptuous.
Mr Justice Mwanamwambwa adjourned the hearing of Masumba’s bail application to November 19, 2014 to pave way for investigations on whether or not the remarks were issued by Masumba.
Masumba has told his lawyer Mutakela Lisimba that he is not the one who authored the letter in issue.
Mr Justice Mwanamwambwa has, however, ordered that Masumba swears an affidavit on whether or not he was the one who authored the letter.
The court may summon the reporters who attributed their story to Masumba to give evidence in case the convict insists he did not author the story.