The Constitutional Court has reserved ruling in President Edgar Lungu’s Eligibility case to a date to be announced.
In this matter, four political parties namely Christian democratic party, Zambia republican party, new congress party and citizens democratic party are seeking the court’s interpretation of the constitution with regards President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to stand in the 2021 elections.
When the matter came up for the continued hearing today, one of the the petitioners lawyer, Chewe Bwalya, argued that the submission made by Law Association of Zambia lawyer John Sangwa stating that ‘there was nothing to interpret in Article 106 of the Constitution’ was misleading because the article did not expressly provide for how President Lungu’s alleged inherited term was to be treated. Mr Bwalya reiterated that a full term should be five years.
“The provision does not state how a person, like the incumbent, who has served an inherited term of less than three years is to be treated,” he said.
He said this matter was seeking to interrogate whether President Lungu’s initial term that cut across two constitutional dispensations could be taken into account.
And another petitioners’ lawyer Dickson Jere argued that if the drafter of the Constitution wanted to exclude President Lungu, they should have put clear provisions the way they did in 1991 and 1996 to deal with then President Kenneth Kaunda.
“If Parliament meant to exclude President Lungu, they ought to have done so with clear provisions. Our submission is that President Lungu’s term between 2015 and 2016 does not constitute a term. It falls below the threshold of three years. Therefore his term began in 2016 which makes him eligible to contest, ” Jere said.
And commenting on whether the petitioners had a standing in the matter, another petitioners’ lawyer Milingo Lungu argued that the case was brought in public interest and therefore the public had the right to know whether President Lungu was eligible to stand or not.
He said the petitioners had demonstrated their standing in the matter as citizens and it was important that the public was enlightened.
Mr Lungu added that the question of whether President Lungu’s first term should be counted as a full term should be answered in the negative whereas the question of whether the President was eligible to contest in 2021 should be answered in the positive.
President of the Constitutional court Hildah Chibomba has since reserved ruling in the matter and announced that the court would communicate the date for the judgement.
And when reached for a comment after adjournment, two of the four petitioners Daniel Pule and Peter Chanda expressed satisfaction that there lawyers have done a good job and can only hope for the best.
Palibe Kanthu, ECL 2021
This man is a thief. Why would anyone want him to continue?
He knows that he will be caged if he loses in 2021.
Its a forgone conclusion because the Concourt wouldn’t rule against PF.
This court was formulated by Lungu.
Simple as that ladies and Geneltmen
Thanks
Bb2014,2016
Con court you have Zambia in your hands. Please do what is good for the country.
LT, what did the other lawyers say?
An inheritance is given, it’s in your lap and you just have to accept it or give it away…Ba Lungu NEVER inherited his first term; he was elected, he fought for it! Will he be allowed to stand three times??! Even a lay person like myself can call this!!
IT’S ALREADY KNOWN, THE ODDS POINTS THE SPINDLE OF JUSTICE IN FAVOUR OF ECL.
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The AG already nailed it. Ngati ususha enda ku hell.
I have very little faith in the ConCourt after the way they handled the 2016 UPND Presidential election petition. Not that I support UPND. I support the rule of law, and evidently the CocCourt didn’t demonstrate that in 2016. For instance, they let Lungu remain in office in the interim, when the Constitution clearly says the Speaker of the Assembly is supposed to be in charge. As usual, the independence of the three branches of government is very weak in Zambia, as in most African countries. The president virtually runs all the branches, and can hardly be held accountable. The ConCourt can surprise all of us and do the right thing, by putting the country first, and the rule of law. Whatever decision they come up with, they’ll need to clearly show us how they arrived at it. And there…
(Continued)… should be no evidence of external interference or coercion.
Ba Zambia nga baliwina World Cup, nififye ba teyele naba Germany. Hakalusa’s mindset!!!!
These guys are so scared of ECL, they can only win if they stood against a frog as back in the old days.
Petition ba feluka, impeachable ba feluka, Cyril of RSA ba loba ilyauma, term limits ba feluka.Chilanga, insuna yaipaya and they allow ubwamba to make such an important decision.
If this is not Chipante pante then I don’t know what these guys are. They are the real Chibwi no strategy.
Koseni bane …
What all commentators are missing is that ECL never moved the court as the record shows Danny Pule and Others Vs The Attorney General. Surprisingly when commenting on this matter at Solwezi Airport last year, he spoke as if he had personally filed the petition to ask the court to make a declaration if he was eligible to stand in 2021. Secondly, why has any ordinary member of the PF not moved the court to satisfy the locus standi condition? Why should leaders of supposed opposition parties have locus standi in a PF matter? Can someone not married to me sue to divorce me? Can someone who is not a UPND member sue the UPND for fielding Charmaine Musonda in the Chilanga by-election? The court should answer this question in its verdict if it’s relevant to Zambian society.
Paid evil Princess of the PF Kaponyas.
No clause in the constitution bars ECL from going for a second term due to him in 2021. We should give the man a well deserved second term mandate period.
No person is allowed to buy 2 CARS (elected twice) EXCEPT in the case where s/he inherits 1st CAR less than 3 years old from a deceased twin brother/sister.
Lungu bought his 1st CAR (was elected). He did not inherit 1st CAR from a twin brother/sister. Sata was NOT his twin. So Lungu has already bought 2 CARS (Been elected twice = held office twice according to new constitution).
I simplified it for you to grade 3 level. If you can’t digest it, then you are BRAIN-DAMAGED.
If ConCourt chooses to throw our constitution into the dust-bin & allow Lungu’s 3rd Term, then after 2021, mark my words, Lungu will change a term from 5 years to 10 years as he said when he was in Rwanda.
wwwDOTthemastonlineDOTcom/2017/12/08/pf-leaders-and-members-say-no-to-lungus-third-term/
Lungu has no respect for our constitution as he exhibited when he refused to step down during petition hearing.
Fear of going to JAIL is the ONLY motivation Lungu fears leaving State House.
Everyone knows this man has stolen big time, it’s just a matter of time for his thieving gets exposed.
He’s been sending anyone who speaks against him to jail (HH, Kambwili, Fresher Sakala) but he’s a weakling who fears tasting his own medicine.
It is not good to call others dulland foolish! As for this case I am afraid some learned chaps will soon earn the titles.
Interesting!
Four opposition party presidents are propping up their opposite and don’t seem care to become Republican Presidents themselves soonest!
At the end of the current republican president’s term, whichever way it’s decided, it’s doubtful they will attract any votes if they stood on their current party ticket.
It’s actually logical to conclude that their parties are on paper only and have no membership.
Their obsession to further the term of office of the one they registered to replace is amazing.
Iwe ka maloza, when did one year become a full presidential term? That’s why you fail to win elections 5 times. Baset baset.
SOON THEY WILL BE DRIVE BRAND NEW SUV’S FROM “HEAVEN” AND PLOTS. SIBANA WEKUTE & ASSOCIATE’S, SHAME.
This guy got all the yes men judges scared!!
Whining is not a winning strategy bane
Mumba, what about the truth? Where do you guys inherit ignorance? That must be a nice place because you are many.
Please point me to the part of the constitution that says a President MUST serve two full terms. Section 106 (2) says a President will hold office from the time they are sworn in up to the swearing in of the next President elect, which first happened after the by election and second after 2016 elections. 106 (3) says a person who has twice held office is not eligible for election, in this case, holding office meaning being sworn in, which again has already happened twice. To swear in the current President for the third time in 2021 would clearly breach the above, because he has held office twice already, regardless of whether or not he served two full terms. So yes, in 2021 he technically would only have served one full term [section 106 (6)(a & b), but that does not make him entitled nor…
(Cont’d) ….eligible for a second full term.
Word my learned friend!
Walasa!!! Thx to the bias reporting of LT it only seems the pro Lungu liars(lawyers) were the only ones talking so i hope Mr. John Sangwa and company clearly said that to the PF Concourt judges
@4DIZMO
106.
(1) The term of office for a President is five years which shall run concurrently with the term of Parliament, except that the term of office of President shall expire when the President-elect assumes office in accordance with Article 105.(2)108. (6) (b), the Vice-President or the President-elect shall serve
for the unexpired term of office and be deemed, for the purposes of clause (3)—(a)to have served a full term as President if, at the date on which the President assumed office, at least three years remain before the date of the next general election; or (b)not to have served a term of office as President if, at the date on which the President assumed office, less than three years remain before the date of the next general election. From the following the…
From the following the president qualifies to stand as president despite being elected twice because he did not serve a full term as per article 108(6)(b)
Mwakale, from your excerpts, you can see that it is possible to hold office without serving a term if you serve less than three years. They are therefore two separate things. Had the constitution said that to hold office you have to have served at least three years then President Lungu would surely be eligible. Instead, it says to have served a term, you have to have been in office for three years or more. Either way, The non debatable fact is that it says a person cannot be sworn in more than three times.
Cann
*Cannot be sworn in more than two times.
Lekeni Ejiga ateke. your time will come also. for now its ECL s time period. He is the man of the moment. bonse abashala ni bangwele
(cont’d) …eligible for a second full term.
For some to debate with others in their mother tongue it’s tribalism for others it’s national unity. KK and his UNIP planted this legacy on Zambia for all their “one Zambia one nation motto”. BR Mumba Snr you are a shameless tribalist, the kind that called Ludwig Sondashi a tribalist for merely asking why there was not a single staff member who spoke ki-Kaonde at Zamtel Solwezi telephone exchange in the 1980s.Sondashi was merely asking how Kaondes who spoke no other language were being served in their own province in the town their own ancestors were local traditional rulers. KK was promoting local imperialism in Zambia for all his anti-colonial credentials. It’s only people with imperial mindsets who want the Kaonde language on any other language to die.
It was interesting, in this case, to hear upnd lawyers argue that Lungu was elected two times. I asked ati “ayiii?” The what was the noise about petions about? So they knew he was elected all along
Why are they scared of ecl in 2021? Poor souls!
Because he is a shameless vote thief and a lover of vote thugish…..
He has ruined the country that is why.
So scared of a man they call ‘No vision’…..kkkkkkk. Allow him to stand so that you win your so called corrupt and no vision man…!
Aba ba Pompwe, come 2021 when out of power, we will have to deal with them thoroughly…and a complete overhaul in deteriorated governing institutions including this corrupt judiciary among others must take priority…..they have brought so much misery to the poor majority of Zambians in the last 3 years….let’s ensure we vote them out 2021
A person holding office for less than 5years does not hold a « term » the process ie « election » « swearing in » etc is clearly distinguished from a « term » even in both constitutions emphasis was on 5 years for it to be considered a term. The lacuna that existed on what to do with »serving a reminder of a term » was sought to be cured through various remedies including withholding perks « unless you serve for three years » but with the introduction of « a running mate the hiccups were cured » he is eligible go and defeat him at the pols if you will or don’t endorse his candidature to run
Sorry excuse of a tribal grouping posing as a party! Kitchen sink at all cost to try to win at all cost but they will NEVER!
We will make Childish retire in 2021!
Namwala land thief and his tribal supporters always love to deflect the thief of privatization to the innocent! The “Cambridge Analytica” thief and the Panama Thief! He will never be president in Zambia! He is too Childish! Asking South Africa to take over Zambia is being childish! Asking the UN and Amnesty to come and take over Zambia is being an Under Five! So desperate!
I think Hazaluza Hagain! It is in the blood! 33! Delusions see these the other way!
3 is less than 7 and 7 is greater than 3. LT is taking away my signs!
@Sharon you have made me laugh. For sure you are a good mathematician! Thanks!
The guy sold all our companies with Chiluba and him he ran away to SA he invested all our resources there now because he has made shakoz on our head he want to come back as a president for who? And I’m not support ruling party but let other parties take this nation to a next level not PF or UPND NO.
I’m a real Zambian not kandile.
This wil be a technical knock out which everway,i expect all wel meaning zambians to accept the interpretation of the constitution by the court and respect its judgement.
No one is above the law.
I hope when the time come for some us to Contest for the office the Constitutional Court will find a time to hear our grievances. Just like they did find time to hear President Lungu’s.
Zambians will never stop amazing me. A person who doesn’t have proper identity, he is failing to tell the nation who he is, but wants to make people believe that his umbilical cord was buried in chimwewe but the same mouth says he was born in Kitwe Central hospital, now the begs an answer is what happens to a baby’s umbilical cord if born in a hospital? Do they the cord to the mother to go & bury or it is burnt at the hospital? A person people so much want to continue in office is surrounded with so many mysteries. At one given time they were born twins, no again we they were born months separate with the sister except that they were fighting who the eldest was hence the NCRs were obtained same year. They father didn’t go to school so he made a mistake on the birth details of the…
The responsibility to correct the path Zambia takes, whether for further distruction or revival lies in your hands Ba Mayo ba Chibomba. I rest my case.
Under what constitution was Lungu elected for the first term? What did that constitution say on finishing another person’s term? How does Lungu benefit from the constitution that came in while he was on office? Are developing another Putin who changed positions to suit his situation?
Why do most Zambians, more especially those who pray to Lungu find thinking a hard task? Why in fact should we even debate elections before we finish debating who this man is? Where he comes from and how he became Zambian. If there’s so much doubt on him, why even let him finish the term? Why is that dull speaker sitting on impeachment?
we have a compromised con court which will not rule against Lungu; the opposition should just unite for Lungu’s reign to be stopped;
We are scared of what will become of Zambia if Mr Lungu was re elected for the Third term,,, Our fear is driven by the love we have for the generation which is to come before us,,, Governments have deliberately shunned from investing in building more schools and research laboratories with a clear motive of promoting illiteracy,, so that people can easily be brainwashed into even giving an audience to people like Mumba on this platform,, we have been Financially ok from birth and no amount of politicking can change that,, hence when we open our mouth it’s purely for the love of our Zambia,,, A man without a course is as good as dead, dignity above everything,, don’t support a party because you’re lazy, you can not utilise what God has planted in you,, hence you resort to advocating…
Mistake lies in having a presidential by-elections each time a demise occurs in the Presidential office, and all protocols similar to that of General election are observed. If it is just finishing term of late president (s), then somebody could just be ushered into the said office as acting president, and without taking a presidential oath, till general election are held. Why is it that a full gratuity is given to such a person who had held presidential office less than three years if he was not president? The Zambian Constitution states clearly (article 106 (3), that “a person who has twice held office as President is not eligible for election as President.” To twice held office as President means talking Presidential Oath twice. How many Presidential oaths does ECL has so far taken?
THE OPPOSITION PARTY LEADERS EG. DR PULE AND PS MUSOMA WHO PETITIONED THE ELIGIBILITY WHERE INDEED WISE, THEY PETITIONED SO THAT THEY CAN PREPAIR WELL FOR 2021 KNOWING WHO THEY ARE PREPAIRING THEMSELVES TO FACE IN THE POLLS, NOW THAT THEY`LL SOON BE FURNISHED WITH A CONCOURT RULING , THEN THEY CAN PREPAIR FOR 2021 POLLS WITH A PEACE OF MIND, SIMPLE. SO PREPAIR ALL OPPOSITION PARTY LEADERS, SOON YOU`LL UNDERSTAND AT WHAT FREQUENCY RADIO CONCOURT IS FREQUENTING AT.
Let’s put a bet, Chagwa will surely not be among the living come the 2021 polls, period! Sata was angling himself for one too while trying to dodge the death impendiment in between but alas Zondwa wa baNwachusa tripped & hell into the ground at Embassy Park.
All were free to contribute to the refining process of the constitution. Those who are saying the mistake is or indeed the mistake was are wasting their breath because the case has reached the judgement stage. Even the educated leader of the opposition never made any meaningful contribution but cries on every election. This time around their candidate in Chilanga is not talking to ZNBC so that they can use that later as failure due to selective coverage by ZNBC. ” If a tree does not know how to dance, the wind will teach it”. In the same vein the opposition should learn from the PF how it is done.
An election is an election if no money was spent then it wouldn’t count but even contestants paid to be part, but today you don’t consider that. God knows where this is going
And we shall vote ECL back with a decisive margin in 2021.
The picture above tells it all, he has already won the case.
During MMD term I bought a house ,and I don’t know my fellow youth if
they have also in PF period
ECL already made it clear that if any of his employed judges became “adventurous”, they would put this nation on fire. Your boss says that and adds a emotional touch of “lives are in your hands”..would your objectivity even come into play?? Its a forgone conclusion..expect nothing from the concourt.
The petitioners in the case have got no “Locus Standi”.
The Con Court has got a strange “Modus Operandi”. Lets all subpoena our minds to this matter forthwith so that henceforth………..
We want ECL on the ballot in 2021 so we can win him clean!
B R Mumba. The case is about a constitutional provision not on ruling or opposition parties? How do you take part in conversation you have no clue about? Who took the matter to court? ECL supporters. Who has been harmed by the provision? No one so far. Bakandile imwe!!
Seka seka politics in Zambia!!.the so called opposition parties voting for the ruling candidate then why should they be called opposition parties?
B R Mumba – He is a full time PF Kandile. The way he comes out.
I hope the con court Judges would serve the country.please dont just support a person who is not eligible.justice is very important in this country.there are a lot of leaders who can lead Zambia.Though iam Pf we all know that lungu is not eligible but bcoz he appointed those judges they will compromise the rule of law.How I hope that God’s power will intarvene and judges wont be intimidated.lungu is not eligible period.He wants to do the voting thing like what happened at petition.Some Judges maybe bought just to make sure Lungu stands in 2021 but that’s terrible to love money instead of justice.
They increased from five to seven… ummm… let’s see – maybe it will come out like Brexit kaya mwandini!!
Let them pass the judgement we see first
Why cant we live God to decide ? Do we even know if all these opposition and incumbent leaders will be alive tomorrow let alone 2021? Do I know if I will be there to vote for them? I just dont understand why we should waste time o this debate instead of worrying about 2022 and 2024 (euro bond maturity years ). This has a more devastating impact on our future than ECL’s eligibility or HH standing for the 10 th time bla bla. Our kids have a bigger chance of being alive in 2022 and 2024 than ECL or HH. Focus on what matters bloggers. Focus on the rising debt. It affects everything we can ever stood for in 1964 , 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016
The judgement will make me respect the con court or trash them for good and seriously join politics to help in cleaning up our system
But why are people scared of ECL? It boggles my mind that even those who think can win the elections want to talk about ECL not standing in 2021……for what for? Are we scared of our own shadows or something? People should have faith in themselves. If anything, its the PF insiders who are supposed to ask the eligibility of ECL because they probably think he is blocking others from standing…..foto,foto, foto atase…and you call yourselves the learned chaps….ukooooooo!
Ndelolesha Lungu is not eligible to stand that’s the truth, PF as usual trying to abuse one clause in the constitution to their benefit just like the did of the 7 days. Lungu has twice served and been sworn in, serving full term is for Vice President who finishes someone else’s term. The constitution court should not be used to aid some dictator’s quest to stay in power forever
If ecl stands in 2021 what next for hh.
Kulila chabe . Practically hh can’t beat ecl unless otherwise
Soon someone will be “buried!” He will be like Scott! Come 2021.
Its too early to predict anything any of the two parties can win lets not water the bridge before we cross
Kabimba was ELungus’ classmate at Unza.Also almost ALL Concourt judges were Lungus’ classmates at Un za!!!!. …..what kind of ruling do you expect from former classmates..appointed specifically to do his bidding? How were these judges ratified ?