International Trade Consultant Trevor Simumba has cautioned the ruling PF to tread carefully as the impeachment motion against President Edgar Lungu is expected to be tabled on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Simumba advised the PF to beware of backroom political deals.
He said not every MP is happy with the current President and a vote on impeachment is by one vote by one MP.
“Some may just decide that Zambia is better off with Madam Inonge as President,” he warned.
Mr Simumba said the one good lesson from this is that no one person can rule this country with impunity.
“I pray the President reflects on his legacy and makes a real effort to govern in the interest of the Zambian people and not in his personal and party cabal interest,” he said.
Mr Simumba said Members of Parliament should debate and vote based on their conscience adding that MPs are elected to serve the people of Zambia.
“President Lungu the ball is in your court, it just takes one phone call to your colleagues for dialogue to start,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Governance Adviser Isaac Mwanza has written to the Clerk of the National Assembly advising that the some of the grounds for the impeachment motion be struck out.
In a letter obtained in Lusaka, Mr Mwanza said while he fully recognises the right of any Member of Parliament to move the motion in accordance with the laid down rules, he is of the view that the following grounds must be struck out from the motion: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 2.1.5 on the following grounds: Under the principal of separation of powers, Parliament cannot debate matters which are before the court of law.
“Matters in ground 1.1 and 1.2 are matters which are active before the Constitutional Court (case number 2016/CC/33); ground 1.3 is a matter before the Constitutional Court which was raised by a way of Notice of Motion on 19th January, 2018 by Brigadier General Miyanda in respect of the alleged contravention of the Constitution of Zambia as amended by the President of the Republic of Zambia Edgar Chagwa Lungu, while a matter relating to ground 2.1.5 may prejudice an active investigation being conducted by Zambia Police Service,” Mr Mwanza wrote.
He said, “Under the said active court case 2016/CC/33, Hakainde Hichilema and Godfrey Bwalya Mwamba as petitioners are seeking the same substantive reliefs as contained in the impeachment motion where they allege the President breached the Constitution. The Advocates for the petitioners were, as at 21st March 2018, filing arguments and other documents before the Constitutional Court on the very matters the Honourable Member seeks Parliament to deliberate on.”
He stated that as at the time of authoring this letter on 27th March, 2018, ground 1.3 was being argued before the Constitutional Court under cause 2017/CC/0004.
“It is my prayer that the rules of admissibility of motions would not allow Parliament to debate matters which are before the court of law,” he pleaded.
Is it going to be by secret ballot?
If this will be a sectret ballot then Lungu will be former president very soon, even Gogo Inonge will vote for Lungu to be impeached… only current ministers will that are getting money from Chinese corrupt contractors will vote against the motion.
Batonga yaba…. sembe ni hh
You spend too much time in the conspiracy theorist world of such delusions. What impeachment and where? You will be luck if your list of hallucinations will buy a minute of the August House floor considering it is as useless as it’s bitter and deluded source. It will only achieve 1 thing, prove that you’re stuck in delusions and perennial rejection as such dreams. Honestly which noble patriot would want to risk Zambia with such sectarian interests to be realized through back-door pledges of splashing contracts to everyone?
UPND should redeem itself before history writes it off completely. It’s way too long to keep thriving on sectarian causes, hatred, delusions and unpatriotism to mother Zambia. Since 2005 it’s too much to be trapped with 1 perennial loser. You risk being headless chickens cone 2021 tripartite elections. These same MPs you insult around the clock and only cheat yourselves now that they can kill their own party for sectarian causes alien to them, will soon vote to promote democracy in UPND.
Chagwa agwa, Wina awina
Double h and Gbm dishing out money to MPs with a view to influencing the impeachment turn out.
So ev!l. These niggaz have sold their souls to the dev!l.
But as H.E the former President of Zambia Michael Chilufwa Sata posthumous put it, get that money pray for it and eat it. At the end of the day, hasshhhhh! Don’t Kubeba.
WHETHER SECRET OR NO, THIS IS WISHFUL THINKING AT ITS BEST.
Why are the PF rats panicking…
PF is very worried. Divide and rule doesn’t help. Lets allow parliament to do it’s job.
I am a bit confused over this impeachment idea and also I do not understand why our Constitution Court delays making decision at interpreting the laws so that we the people can know how to best proceed with matters such as impeachment of the president. Is there a minimum time frame in which to render interpretation? It is unfair not to have an established time frame for an answer. If it means working day and night, the Constitution Judges must do it to have an answer available in a maximum time period of say three (3) months. I don’t think this is too much to ask for. If the judges feel it is short a time period, they must step down and leave room for those that want to work to take over. Waiting for us citizens to begin protesting over a straight forward matter such as this one, is a…
Waiting for us citizens to begin protesting over a straight forward matter such as this one, is a waste of time and money being paid to the judges as salary.
But the impeachment motion against President Lungu is missing out on this afternoon’s order paper, what is happening? Is it that the secretariat didn’t receive it when putting the document together or what?
The Judges have let this great nation down
If this impeachment fails, who ll HH blame?
@ Mj banda. this impeachment is not about HH or the UPND in case you do not understand it, even if the president is impeached it will be Inonge that will take over not anyone in opposition. Do not make this a person thing it involves all us Zambians.
Impeachment is not always successful and is meant to usually rattle those in power to wake up in RSA 10 impeachment had been tabled against Zuma none were really successful except for the 10th which may have if Zuma did not resign
I think this impeachment madness has got the potential to undermine the confidence in the commercial sphere in the country. This wil make the Kwacha suffer.
Next time Kambwili and HH are in Jail, don’t release them. They are making this country ugly.
Ba Lungu why are you so kind to people who are looking for your blood?. Uluse lwalile inkwale. Just cage them. Cage Kambwili. To me the impeachment attempts are treasonable.
@9 Chitapankwa.. Lungu does NOT have absolute power on INNOCENT PEOPLE’s lives!! An IMPEACHMENT MOTION IS NOT a Crime but A RIGHT and DUTY OF MPs and CITIZENS to ENSURE a President governs in National Interest. NO BODY will be caged without a crime! By the way, impeachment motion does NOT mean immediately losing power unless the motion succeeds! Bill Clinton(USA), popular as he was underwent an impeach vote, Zuma (RSA) “dirty” as he sounded, survived 8 no-confidence votes (impeachment motions), Dilma Russef (Brazil) lost THIS VOTE SHOULD NOT SCARE LUNGU as IT MAY JUST CLEAR MISCONCEPTION ON HIM,IFF HE IS CLEAN!??
I commend Trevor Simumba for his braveness to speak out these are men we would like to hear from unlike pupets every time praises for Lungu even where he has made mistakes..no no thats rubbish. Indeed,its not every PF MP is happy about what is obtaining in this country so I wish those with rationale will vote for the President impeachment because he is also not above the law if he has messed up
What treasonable offences about impeachment? The motion and decision by UPND is right besides its contained in the constutution therefore, in short there are utilizing the laid down procedures and not otherwise as thought by this shollow minded guy whose idea is only to talk about treason… treason
The impeachment can not succeed because the opposition do not have the numbers to upset the tables. A case in point is in South Africa where the opposition failed to impeach Jacob Zuma solely because they did not have the numbers. It was only when the ANC itself threatened Zuma with impeachment that he succumbed. The opposition is fishing in the dry pond.PF MPs can not vote against Lungu because even those not stealing big time are eating the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table. UPND should concentrate on what it is going to do to sort out the many challenges Zambians are facing to day. They should also change the slogan- Zambia forward, forward where with no master plan? The problem Zambia is facing to day is that both the govt and the opposition are lost in the jungle.
In the house of Godfrey Miyanda there’s a Constitution. Clause 1: Angela shall leave the house at 06.30hrs. Clause 2: Godfrey shall leave the house at 07.30hrs. Clause 3: Before leaving the house, Godfrey will ensure that the house is secured and he shall surrender the keys to Angela. Is Godfrey under obligation to obey Clause 3 or not?
As an ‘INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONSULTANT’, one would expect him to give an expert opinion on the implications of impeachment on International. But because he is a upnd cadre we are being given an ‘expert’ opinion on backroom political deals! Ba Lusaka Times why don’t you just address such clowns as ‘A Lusaka resident’
meant ‘on international trade’
Trevor Simumba is zealous UPND cadre. Some of us who know him personally cannot be be deceived by his thinly – veiled partisan sentiments. He can only fool fellow UPND bloggers here who believe anything bad said about the current government is good news..
First and foremost upnd is 90%tonga party no doubt and it’s not triblerism this are facts , second upnd are bitter souls with evil intentions especially for lungu and pf , let’s not forget so easily this move started even wen sataa was president and later micheal threatened to dissolve pm to go for free election , so for me its not strange to ear all this nonsense from this lost chaps , be lead as well another motion is coming on term limit don’t cry foul as I no for now you’re fighting a loosing battle
90% is grossly understated. Not all upnd members are tonga, but almost all tongas are upnd. FACT
The impeachment might just go through. Staunch PF MPs not appointed to Government positions will prove very crucial. In an event that the Opposition emerge victorious, The Current VP who represents PF, will become the new President. So, it will still be a win-win position for those PF MPs, regardless of how they vote! That’s where the catch is!
Lungu will have bribe more people.
Each PF MP not a minister must demand $200,000 for their vote….he has stolen enough…
From my calculation LUNGU only needs 56 votes to tear away the petition,unless something sinister happens in Parliament.
The assumption that PF is likely to conduct itself carelessly is wrong. It is better to consider PF as a mature political party. As such, the PF is capable of remaining united with one voice. The voice is saying, the PF mandate expires in 2021 and the opposition needs to reckon with that fact. It is same old opposition tactics of divide and rule to damage the reputation of the PF.
Trying to be relevant representing the hand that feeds him.
Please go away!
Zambian opposition: Clueless, just copying what is obtaining elsewhere: When Kenyan Supreme Court nullified election results, they pointed to Kenya. When Zimbabweans rejected Mugabe, they pointed to Zimbabwe, when ANC rejected Zuma, they pointed at RSA… Yet when Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga talked reconciliation, bola bena yatulika! When in genuine context ECL threw in a Bemba idiom, which was politically misconstrued, the opposition pounced. What a way to run politics! You cant propagate alternative governance! Only antagonism! Mwatunasha! Nangu mukana hatred, eyo!!!
Mr simumba the lost soul, trying his level best to get his foot into politics by any means necessary. Your friend Anthony mumba, who you used to feature with on radio Phoenix ‘s let the people talk, had enough guts to stand as an independent candidate and against all odds displaced yanfwa mukange. So in a nutshell, Anthony has changed levels from radio talk show yapping to being an honorable legislature. He is now working closely with pf and gets regular assignments from the president. What does your report card say??? still appearing on let the people talk, trying to appease upnd vigrants like konoso, proud, muchindu, Alfred chinyama and all those meat heads who have contaminated the show for well over 17 years. These are the fools who are making HH very unpopular because no one…