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Victory for the opposition: Supreme Court rules that Ex MPs are free to recontest their seats

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The Supreme Court has made a landmark ruling that opposition MPs whose elections were nullified can recontest their seats.

This is in a case where the ruling Patriotic Front had applied to bar some opposition MP whose elections were nullified on account of alleged electoral malpractices.

Delivering the landmark verdict this morning, Judge Gregory Phiri and Judge Mwanamwambwa who read the judgement on behalf of the full bench said all the MPs whose seats were nullified are free to re-contest.

This means that all the former MPs for Solwezi Central, Petauke Central, Mulobezi, Kasenengwa, Vubwi, Mkushi South, Zambezi West and Malambo constituencies are free to vie for their seats.

The full Supreme Court bench ruled that the state’s application to set aside the High Court’s ruling lacked merit.

It said allowing the motion in the format it was presented would open doors to running litigations in the Supreme Court.

The Judges however advised the parties involved to pursue the matter in the High Court if they so wished.

And Former MMD Solwezi MP Lucky Mulusa told Journalists outside the Supreme Court that the landmark case has exposed the PF’s abuse of the law.

“It is good that we have reached this far. It shows areas where our constitution needs amendments. If we all agree as a nation that barring MPs from representing their people for as long as 13 months in some cases is wrong, then we need to do something about it,” Mr Mulusa said.

He also announced that he will be recontesting his seat following today’s ruling.

“I expect the Electoral Commission of Zambia to announce election dates very soon now that judgement has been delivered. If the state goes ahead to seek other options then we shall meet them again in court.”

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

81 COMMENTS

    • Uko, POBOOO! Victory for the Zambian people. More victory is to come, very, very shortly. 2016 is even too far. It’s just a function of time.
      TULELOLELA PATIENTLY!!!

    • This is not a good time for PF to contest the elections and taste the waters- If they fail to win, while their leader is already a vegetable in diaspora, it will mess them up- Kabimba will be their campaign boss who will use the ailing dictator Sata to attract the voters.

    • Kokolastic!!!!!

      Oh no! Saulosi???? Iye imwe Poor Mushota…..

      Sick again?

      Ati “thanks” LOL!!!!!

    • good, good, these are straight forward cases which should not have come this far. the mp’s were not convicted of corruption by any court, but electoral malpractices. so let us see what comes out of the bye elections

    • The opposition will face a tough time from the PF and the latter might just scoop all these by elections IF the governing pf
      1. Delivers a people driven constitution (despite expiry of 90 days)
      2. Restores the value of the Kwacha to say below K5 000/US$
      3. Reduces the external debt they have incurred to below US$3 billion
      4. Lower taxes and put more money in ALL people’s pockets (not just pf cadres) 5. Stops mismanaging the Public Order Act
      6. Takes prices of mealie meal to below K50/25 kg bag
      7. Resolves unconstitutional ceremonial office of Veep

    • This is not good for transparency sake.This will encourage the candidates to use bribes and corruption in an attempt to woo voters, because they will have in mind that once they are found wanting they will simply recontest their seats.

    • Folks its too early to celebrate the victory until we are certain on which party ‘s ticket these former MPs will stand on. I am certain about those in UPND but I am NOT 100 % sure about those in MMD.

      I will not be surprised if Dora and Mulusa decide to represent the PF. Maybe I am just running wild with my thinking because the PF I know only allows the courts to pass such judgements when they know that it will benefit them some how. Definitely I think there is caveat in this court ruling.

      Alternatively, I want to believe that things will get better now that the devil himself is in a critical but stable condition in Israel. And that Judges have now realised that in Sata’s absence they should make a ruling based on facts not on wishes of the dictator.

      I hope this is not a one off

    • Soulosi

      Sometimes i find it hard to understand you thinking. You claim to be an academician in some european university. Surely any grade 7 would understand that if you have not been convicted on any criminal or corruption charge by any court in the land, you can not be prevented from standing as an MP.

      I doubt any credible european university would enroll such a low level thinking student like you

    • The way forward to avoid such awkward situations, is to enact a law that prevents any party or ruling party from giving any sort of gifts within a specified period leading up to the elections. I think the best period before elections in which No gift giving nor any construction projects are to be done is 90 days. This will mean once the election day has been set, no one should be seen trying to entice the voters by giving out gifts or rushing construction projects to influence the vote.

      If there are any major construction projects already earmarked for that area, they should be implemented three months before the announcement of the election date to avoid the projects being considered as voter inducement.

      I believe we can come up with a way to conduct our elections fairly.

    • @ TheEngineer(Bauleni)

      You have the right to doubt me.It is not my business how you think about me.Surely you can`t expect me to think like you because you and i have not been shaped by the same background,exposure,education and mentors.The best part about me is I am not you.I’m me, I’m Saulosi.Get this in your pathetic,compromised,egocentric,self-indulgent, stereo-typical, presumptuous head.Smh

    • The Supreme court justices are cowards. They had to wait until Ukwa was out the country before they could make this ruling. They were scared to make this ruling when ukwa was around. Such is the nature of our judiciary in Zambia.

  2. Uko, POBOOO! Victory for the Zambian people. More victory is to come, very, very shortly. 2016 is even too far. It’s just a function of time.

  3. Game on!!!

    Can we please hold all these By-Elections on the same day in the month of August the day the other election is scheduled to take place?

    I think a lot of Zambians are looking forward to seeing PF candidates being made to kneel down by ..you know who ..to plead for votes. Can’t wait, we have seen this PF kneeling show in a while.

    • Very good question. The problem is after insulting Nevers will Dora and Lucky face up to meeting the MMD President to strategise for the election? Short of joining the PF they may end up contesting as independents.

  6. PF was just buying time, they knew following the loss in mkaika in Katete and Chipata central, people were prepared to show PF for the lies, so they went to by time for people to cool down, and created anarchy in opposition MMD by sponsoring sell outs like Dora, kaingu and others. Now the day of reckoning in coming, you asked for it. prepare to loose since you have gone flat out insulting Zambians.
    At the same time those who do corruption should be not be adopted if we are to clean the system in politics.
    other wise thumbs up to judges for not allowing this PF political interference of vindictiveness.

  7. Justice is what we need to strengthen in the new constitution. PF may feel unhappy today but tomorrow the principled ones who will remain in PF even when another political party comes to power will benefit from a good constitution. Let us not be short-sighted. Ms Siliya and Mr Mulongoti have been made to taste their own medicine. Those two Zambians really made MMD taste real sour–no–bitter. Their language, together with that of Mr Siulapwa really made people hate the MMD. The enemies of PF are within PF. The arrogance of the SG, the mockery by the VP and childishness of “Dr” Cosmo Mumba, not to mention the abuse of the Public Order Act by the Police (Command) and thuggery by PF cadres, the hate language of bloggers like HH, Kudos and Gen. I am only an observer, sometimes a victim.

  8. It will be interesting to see on which tickets Dora and Mulusa will contest their seats, let’s wait and see.

  9. These elections of replacing MP’s should come to an end in Zambia. Its just too costly for a poor country like Zambia. A given party in a given constituency should just replace their candidate without elections. Simple…………………

  10. That is the ruling.I believe it is morally wrong for the affected persons offer themselves to be adopted by the various parties. We the voters will make a “ruling” on election day. Corruption is corruption.

  11. These twits at the Supreme Court have only made this ruling because they have seen the political change that is fast approaching. With the PF demise all but complete, these spineless morons are jumping ship like the rats they are. If Sata was not on his deathbed, these cowards would have come up with a judgement very contrary to this one. Watch how from now onwards their rulings will start to favour the Opposition as they wash their hands off PF. Let us overhaul this whole rotten political system once we kick the PF scoundrels out!

    • well observed….

      PF will soon remain a shell of itself with Kabimba.

      Its going to end in tears

  12. ALL THESE WERE OPPOSITION SEATS. IF THE OPPOSITION RETAINS THEIR SEATS, THEN IT DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING. UNLESS ONE OF THE OPPOSITION PICKS UP MORE SEATS THAN THE OTHER. BUT IF THE PF PICKS EVEN ONE SEAT, THAT WILL CHANGE THE DYNAMICS OF PARLIAMENT. SO THIS IS VERY GOOD FOR BOTH THE PF AND THE OPPOSITION TO TEST THEIR POPULARITY.

    • Here is one thing that most bloggers are not seeing in Zambia politics or polotics as Julius Malema would say: Zambia politicians don’t care about the electorates. They care about the money. The mid term gratuity. Those who were crying foul were crying because they lost an income.
      In my opinion, Zambia should go the South Africa way where parties are voted for and the parties send people to parliament and the people to are selected to go to parliament can be recalled if they are not performing.

  13. The corrupt MPs are a disgrace. However, in agreeing that the corrupt MPs should account, what about those MPs in the ruling Party who do not need to personally corrupt voters for the simple reason that the Government commits the corruption on their behalf by directing so-called “development projects” in constituencies during the campaign period. The VP’s DMM as well as RDA are usually directed to intensify their activities in those constituencies, grading roads, rehabilitating infrastructure, giving relief food etc under the guise “govt cannot stop working just because there are elections” but opposition MPs “should not bribe voters with small gifts/projects i.e. donating a few Kwachas, a hammermill etc”. Such “Animal Farm” (George Owell’s satirical book) should not be…

  16. Such “Animal Farm” (George Owell’s satirical book) should not be tolerated by Zambians. Let us strive towards fair political competition as they do in the West. Zambians should also start punishing MPs who support bad laws in the House just as they should those who cause costly unnecessary by-elections by jumping to the ruling party after winning an election on the ticket of a party that fails to win enough votes to form govt. Such people are clearly corrupt, treacherous and greedy. Of course they have taken advantage of high illiteracy levels and poverty among our people. Fortunately, some of these MPs have been punished…former Hons. Taima, David Phiri but others like the prisoner-living outside jail Mr Masumba and Ngoma, Namulambe have personally benefited from such treachery

  17. Nevers Mumba & Muhabi Lungu are now bussy trying to look for suitable candidates who will replace these Traitors like Dola. Ala icumfwila nokunakilila fyaliwama. Tepapa.

    • This is where people like Dora may enter into a marriage of convenience with the PF like Namulambe and the others have done. But again, if Dora and Lucky are the strongest candidates the marriage of convenience may just be with the MMD.

  18. To buttress my earlier point that this Supreme Court decision has been made by rats jumping the sinking boat of their diabolical dictator, think back to the time when this same Supreme Court through their officers tried to block filing of nominations of Siliya and others on the basis that they did not qualify to recontest their seats, and it took the ECZ to stop the whole process when that decision was questioned by lawyers. These morons at the Supreme Court led by a scumbag of a woman are the worst Zambia has ever had. Hakainde, start to prepare to clean this whole mess. We can’t wait to see this whole PF tribal dynasty out of office. 2016 is just too far. We need an election now.

  19. This is not good for transparency sake.This will encourage the candidate to use bribes and corruption in an attempt to woo voters to vote for them, because they have in mind that once they are found wanting they can simply recontest their seats.

    • Electoral malpractices in Zambia have not been restricted to the current opposition parties. There have been various incidences of a similar nature by the PF both during 2011 and subsequent by-elections. The vice needs to be checked irrespective of the party in power.

    • @saulosi…
      ..when people are crying for the NEW constitution…this case is one of the many reasons. If the constitution was CLEAR on such situations, there would be no need to wait for this long to have a bye election. So many flaws in our current constitution only pop up when a situation such as this comes up. Not only in electoral circles. Remember in 1990s when UBZ went into liquidation, former employees were shocked to learn that they were entitled to only K200 (now 2 ngwee) according to the constitution then…….. you may have been too young then to recall.
      New constitution may address a few of LATENT flaws in the current one

    • Sau……

      Commment on the expose by the Mwine Lubemba on the next page…….PF needs your defence!

  20. Dont worry about those in Israel, they dont sleep. They need no one to tell them or phone them. They spend 80% of the day browsing ba Watchdog, LT, Tumfweko, zambian eyes & the like. So nablogger kaleeee.

  21. This is the kind of news that can send our dear Ukwa’s BP to go helter skelter – that is if he is able to comprehend issues of course!

  23. Me, I have a feeling that when Sata finally dies somewhere next week or the other week our country will return to normal. That this judgement has coincided with his demise is no fluke. We still have people who love this country. Bravo Supreme Court.

    • Imwe ba Kajiji or Kazizi, the case was won already in the high court bwana. And besides, even if its won there, it will still end up in the Supreme where you’ve just lost. Kajiji ni kajiji, for sure you’re a Kazizi like the rest of your party members. PF is the party with the most illiterate leaders on Earth according to the San Diego political research foundation. Its a shame indeed.

  25. HAHAHA DORA SILIYA U HAVE BEEN QUIET KNOW THIS IS YO TIME TO RETURN YO SEAT AND MAKE NOISE IN PARLIAMENT. LETS C WAT WINTER KALIMBA WILL SAY HAHAHAHAHAHA ALL THE WAY 4 DORA SILIYA AM BEHIND YO BACK……………………………………………..

  27. Siamanego: unfortunately PF can not achieve those targets you have listed. It is like promising a grade 1 pupil that you will buy him a bicycle if he sits and passes grade 9 exams. This is my perception of PF in its current form.

  28. This is the case which was championed by no other than one ‘Winter Kabimba’ who is now acting president of Zambia. May be its true this Lawyer has problems winning cases.

  29. Most of those chaps will stand on PF ticket as they are likely to benefit more by aligning themselves with the government.

    This is another Donchi Kubeba

  30. Let them celebrate,hope they still have enough money for campains so that they can corrupt electorates easly.if they dont have am available to give them kaloba so that when they get mid term gratuity will share …i ll be waiting

  31. It’s PF vs the people of Zambia and the scales of justice have tipped in favour of the people…

  32. Breaking new –

    Correction – we earlier reported that the Supreme Court had ruled that all 8 former MPs of the opposition would be allowed to re-contest their seats. However, the cases of Hastings Sililo, Dora Siliya, and Maxwell Mwale are still pending. We apologise for the incorrect report.

  34. This is the best news i have heard in ages!! Supreme court, with Chibesakunda at its head…she has realised there’s no need to hang on to dear Sata.

    • The acting Chief Injustice was actually avoided to participate in the ruling/judgement. She was forced to recurse herself, hence this favourable result for the people of Zambia!

      Meanwhile,
      This is like a penalty to the opposition. It’s all at their disposal to score! Also, this is a penalty to the cheated people of mother zed, clear opportunity to hammer the People’s Fault (PF)! After all, these are the votes the PF had been awaiting to fall on their side, for onward constitution dribbling. Now, the peoples defense (the Supreme Court) has acted accordingly, positively, for the better of mother zed. It’s a penalty!…all for us to punish the Power Failure(PF)

  37. Corruption does not pay. Breaking electoral law is wrong. Justice can not always be equated with public opinion. It is a delicate balancing act without simple solutions. It seems that barring a leader that has broken electoral law from contesting can send the right signal for te fight against electoral fraud and corruption.

  38. Why allowing corrupt individuals whose seats were nullified by the same court to recontest their parliamentary seats again?This the reason why Zambia wont develop because we keep voting for proved corrupt people. Opposition should find new people to present them in parliament.
    Am back people

    • You seem to imply that, a red-carded player must never ever be allowed to play football again! That would be too harsh. People learn, even from their mistakes. And everyone deserves a second chance.

  39. Zambians can, at long last, begin to see the real GREEN LIGHT at the end of the tunnel. Very soon there shall be an eclipse of terror rule in this country. We can cling to some hope that the Zambian Judiciary (minus (-) Lombe Chibesakunda and Nchito) can uphold the Rule of Law in this country. God Bless Our Judges.

  41. Totally confused that a peson guilt of an elctoral offesnse such as corruption can be allowed to recontest the seat immediately. The old law was very clear that such a one could not do so with the life of that parliament.

    Victory to the corruptnicks and loss to good governance and the rule of law!!!

  42. @One Masumba thats they way Zambia should go and all this problem of bringing tired and non performing MP’s will end.

  43. INDEED IT IS VICTORY FOR PF RIGGING AND ELECTRAL MULPRACTICE TEAM. THIS SIMPLY MEANS THAT IT IS FREE FOR ALL AND ITS A DELIBERATE MOVE BY PF THUGS HEADED BY CHIBE…..,DA TO DO ANYTHING FOR THEM TO WIN BY ELECTIONS. THERE IS NOTHING TO SMILE ABOUT.

  44. ‘Let me say this’ i agree with all you are saying. The entire drama of ‘frozen’ seats particularly those from Eastern Province was a knee-jerk reaction from the devastating result of the Mkaika election where MMD won land-slide 94% of the vote.

    PF had to put on the brakes and then the ‘mazembes’, Kambwili and Mils Sampa moved in to do urgent roads and dish out money to the youth in order to give themselves time to neutralize Eastern Province. Meanwhile they worked on Dora and Mulusa. So let’s wait and see. With or without these guys, the wind is shifting back to MMD. I had wanted Musokotwane to be president of MMD but democracy carried the day and now its the Hour for Nevers.

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