The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has announced that it intends to join the legal proceedings on qualification of the Republican Presidency.
LAZ President George Chisanga said his association has been compelled to join the proceedings in order to give guidance on who qualifies to stand for the Republican Presidency.
Mr Chisanga said LAZ has received several queries from the general public on the matter.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka today, Mr Chisanga said Article 34 of the Constitution provides that a presidential candidate must be a Zambian citizen and have parents who are Zambian by birth or descent.
He added that one must also have attained the age of thirty five years and be a member of or be sponsored by a political party.
He further said one must be qualified to be elected as member of the National Assembly and have been domiciled in Zambia for at least twenty years.
Mr Chisanga said some controversies have however arisen as to whether persons whose parents were born before Zambia obtained independence could be considered to be Zambian.
He said the Supreme Court gave guidance on this issue in the 1996 when Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika and others petitioned the eligibility of President Frederick Chiluba.
Mr Chisanga said the challenge was on the claim that President Chiluba’s father was not Zambian and that therefore he did not qualify to stand for the office of President of Zambia.
He said that the Supreme Court ruled that under section three of the 1964 constitution one qualified to become a Zambian citizen at independence if they were born in the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia and were a British protected person.
Mr Chisanga said every person who was born outside the former protectorate of Northern Rhodesia who was a British person at October 23, 1964 and whose father became or would have become a Zambian citizen had they not died before Independence Day 1964 is a Zambian.
Which is which now.
It means Guy Scott qualifies and can stand as president as he was bore in Zambia 1964 from Great Britain parents as at 23 Octobee 1963 automatically beca me Zambians. Just like good example in the case of Bwezani (RB) whose parents were from Malawi and him being born in Zimbabwe, he still qualifies to stand. Another example, maybe nother political is the chief Kazembe’s throne where there maybe a link with Congo DR.
Meant born in 1944 in Livingstone.
@Chalo Ilfupa
Why do you people fabricate wild stories and later start making noise with claims of knowing the truth. Please learn to read and understand articles before commenting. We all know that Scott is Zambian by birth but his parents are not Zambian. They are/were British citizens. The article does NOT say that Scott’s parents GAVE UP THEIR BRITISH NATIONALITY TO BECOME ZAMBIANS when Zambia was born. The article suggests that Scott’s parents were entitled to change and become Zambians but there is no evidence that they did and Scott has never said they did. So Scott DOES NOT QUALIFY BECAUSE HIS PARENTS WERE NEVER ZAMBAINS. It is as simple as that.
You are now thinking guys, coz u are the platform for such issues and and us backbenc citizens are able to influence through the ballot paper.
Perfect…!
The last statement is misleading,it only considered those under the British protectorate colonies and not British protection.thats why Guy Scott doesn’t not qualify because his parents lived in British colony but were not protected by the colonists laws,they will under British laws.Rb,chiluba,Gbm,mulenga sata,lungu do qualify because their parents lived under the British protectorate laws of nyasaland,southern and northern Rhodesia.
I am wondering what credibility LAZ has on commenting on any issue right now because LAZ is skewed already. Yesterday they rebutted a comment they made regarding advising Individuals on a position (The PF on the interpretation of who to select a party candidate) now they’d like to comment of the interpretation of the law.
Do they still have any credibilty to comment? Ba Chisanga’s executive should just save face and keep quiet. Enough of misleading us. In most countries, an honourable person would have resigned on account of the disrepute you’ve brought to LAZ. What confidence do we have in your current statement? Do we know if you’re misleading us and in a few days time you’ll suggest, in a letter that you “boobed”?
Let the courts tell us who can and can’t not in this regard.
@Planzi
It says under Northern Rhodesia. That’s Zambia now.
NOT Nyasaland, which us Malawi now.
NOT Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe
NOT South Africa
This sounds like a good law because no matter how l desire to join South African Politics l still don’t qualify because l am not South African. So, there is nothing wrong for Zambians to protect their birth right of being Zambian. Maybe we change the law a little bit by saying one of the parents should be Zambian
Dear Bishop
Not a good idea. Both must be Zambian. We need to protect Zambia for Full Zambians. This law is similar to all countries around the world. We must protect our land.
By the way you look too young to be a Bishop. You must be Mormon because this what they call their Pastors? Yes?
I glad Guy Scott qualifies to be a candidate. He makes a good one.
It will be a blessing to Zambia if the confusion in pf go on till January 15,2015.HH wake up ,go to northern,eastern and western right now before the confusions ends in pf,why HH Thulo so,everytime kanyama,madevu,Honorable Beenzu ,u are a kapala,sugo,you climbed the mountains,did 5 hard years .make flight HH2015 landing safe.
Dr kaseba can stand on pf party president and withdraw her Republican candidature if she is serious of saving pf,Let lungu be the pf Republican presidential candidate,otherwise she belongs to the cartel group.
HELL NO.LUNGU IS NO PRESIDENT MATERIALBOSS.WHAT HAS HE DONE TO MAKE HIM QUALIFY?.ACTING?
HH take advantage of the drama in PF and MMD. Go North and East. Elsewhere you are covered! Please after Kanyams go rural.
The Laz are probably the most stupid association in Zambia. Right next to NGOs.
@ Nzelu
Agreed. Poor Zambia, we can’t even trust our Legal bodies. And LAZ like NGO have ulterior motives.
Are you Wanzelu really?
35 years? How old is cosmo mumba?
I smell the coffee here… LAZ is being used by the Cartel to try and force Guy Scott on us.
“…that under section three of the 1964 constitution one qualified to become a Zambian citizen at independence if they were born in the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia and were a British protected person…”.
1. First Northern Rhodesia wasn’t a ‘British Protectorate’, it was a ‘British Colony’, Barotseland was a British Protectorate.
2. The statement says ‘AND’, meaning you need to satisfy both.
As for the last paragraph, why does it say his ‘father’ only… the parentage clause talks about both parents. Also they would have to have had renounced their other citizenship as Zambia doesn’t allow dual citizenship.
They are pathetic really. Our minds are their playing fields. We are not supposed to understand their games.
LAZ you can spin it all you want but the fact is Guy Scott or any of the others (including Mulenga Sata) don’t qualify as candidates for the presidency under the current Constitution – even he knows it. If you want your men to be eligible just push for the new constitution between now and 2016, maybe the parentage clause will go away.
Besides I wouldn’t really reference any Supreme Court ruling under FTJ, the independence of the judiciary under this man’s regime was questionable.
So LAZ President, get your blood money and go shopping because this is a non-starter issue you are trying to embark on.
By the way does consult every member for these decisions or even a committee or these are just statements made by one man with invested interest?
HH needs to re-organize his teams otherwise it will be position 3 as always. He has very poor support base especially in most CB towns. Send people to check b4 it is too late
Guy Scot unilaterally put a submition deadline on pf presidential aspirants thus unwittingly barring himself as this deadline as elapsed. what does LAZ have to say about that?
These lawyers just confuse people.just keep quiet iwe Chisanga!we know whom to vote for and its Edgar Lungu chabe!
NOT EDGAR LUNG MWEBANTU.
PLEASE.
HE HAS SHOWN GREED AND BROUGHT CONFUSION IN THE COUNTRY BY OPTING FOR SHORT CUTS.
This LAZ statement has not said anything about the candidate’s mother ir father being born in Zambia or Northern Rhodesia if you like ut is same thing. For avoidance of confusion and political or legal semantics, Zambia or Northern Rhodesia if you like is that territory whose borders are defined by the Zambezi river, the Luapula river and its neighbours. These physical features never changed when Northern Rhodesia changed its name to Zambia. For example if a person changed his name legally, if he had committed a crime before changing his name and the law caught up with him, he can still be prosecuted under his new name because he is one and the same person physically.
physically. And legally too, remember that the so called new country of Zambia took over administrative, financial, loans, revenues, and other national responsibilities. What changed was putting KK in charge to replace a white governor, everything else remained the same. To argue otherwise would be to suggest that Zambia could have avoided the debt burden and HIPC of the 1990s simply by changing its name say to Zambezia, Luangwa or even Ngombe Ilede etc.
I’m surprised that some bloggers are getting excited thinking LAZ want to sneak Guy Scott in. Wake up, the man hasn’t even filed his nomination at party level. So let’s not work ourselves up.
That’s not the point. If read the logical responses. In as much as Scott hasn’t filed a nomination. It suggests that under the interpretation Scott can still stand. Now seems to Ba Chisanga’s executive is passing press statements as if LAZ is him. He is binding the entire legal fraternity. His unproffessional conduct disgraces them all. Do we have any that should call him out on this or as usual we will twiddle our thumbs?
This parentage clause is useless because it was done in haste for political expediency only. As is the case with our first black President of the USA, what one needs is to prove that he was certified as having been birthed in the country to qualify. This nonsense of visiting ancestors is at best discriminatory and at worst draconian; there is NOTHING good about it. I hope the new constitution can be passed quickly without this nonsense. And Oh! Drop the ludicrous car reflectors, too. You look ridiculous as a country insisting that those are brighter than factory-fitted reflectors.
ALL THE CURRENT CONFUSION IN PF HAS BEEN BROUGHT BY EDGAR LUNGU BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR POWER AND GREED.
AND THEN YOU WANT OUR VOTES TO GO TO HIM?
HELL NO.
Fact. Had this not well versed Lawyer called Lungu had taken time to read his own party’s constitution, all this confusion from a few insecured MPs scared of their own shadows could have been avoided. What a piece of……..
Guy Scott is not disqualified. I am talking as a qualified legal practitioner who is qualified in English law which I believe is similar to the legal system in Zambia to an extent.
The problems you have in Zambia is that English is your second language and depending on your understanding of the English language you may conclude things differently.
Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and straightforward meaning. But in many cases, there is some ambiguity or vagueness in the words of the statute that must be resolved by the judge such as the parentage clause.
Zambia was born in 1964 and before that you had Northern Rhodesia and Barotseland. This I itself makes it very complicated as who was deemed to have assumed citizenship of the new country upon independence.
The best thing for Zambia at present and I don’t know how they can do this is, to allow the VP to continue until 2016 which is less than two years from now. This will save the unnecessary waste of resources which could be diverted to improving public services.
It would also allow the people of Zambia to examine, study and have a well informed decision on who should be their next president.
The opposition at present does not seem to have what it takes to replace PF. However, given more time they can reorganise and do the necessary campaign to win votes.
What Zambia needs at present is someone keep the sanity in the country until the elections in 2016. Zambians have already shown that they can never be taken for granted.
@hola,the constitution is the supreme law of Zambia,any leader in a Democratic set up ought to respect to the law to avoid future precedence.Zambian law says within 90 days.pf ‘s failures to find a presidential candidate doesn’t mean other parties can’t govern Zambia.
LAZ as an association has become nothing more than an extension of the post newspaper. I do not listen to what the so called lawyers say any more because as things stand may be I know more about constitutional law than all those stupid *****s in LAZ. What ever happened to the good LAZ of the old days when people like Mundashi was in charge. Of late the calibre of LAZ chairmen makes me wonder if UNZA is still UNZA.
Hola, are you out of your mind? Ngati mwapepako kaja kantu endani ku bedi mwamusanga musanga mukalibe kuzitundila. Ati VP to continue until 2016, its bad enough and shameful enough that Scott is even our acting president.
Hola is righty, he said if it was possible! James Skinner , you just reacted, Hola has brains please let’s not insult each other, English please. Keep writing Hola.
@ James Skinner: I thought the era of shallow-minded racists was already passing but alas, there goes your kind! Regretting that you even have GS as your acting President. Are the majority Americans regretting having Barack Obama an African American for their President? C’mon, man, get a life and civilize your mindset. You sound very retrogressive!