The Constitutional Court has ruled that Margaret Mwanakatwe was duly elected Lusaka Central constituency Member of parliament. Justice Annie Sitali has overturned the High Court’s decision to nullify the election of Mrs. Mwanakatwe
Delivering Judgement today, Judge Annie Sitali said most of the allegations leveled against Mrs. Mwanakatwe by UPND losing candidate Charlotte Scott lacked merit to warrant the nullification of the seat.
Speaking when she delivered the judgement Justice Sitali said it was wrong for the trial judge to nullify the election on account that Mrs. Mwanakatwe sunk boreholes for the people of Lusaka Central without any evidence.
This is in a matter were Mrs Mwanakatwe challenged the High Court’s decision to nullify her seat in favour of UPND Lusaka central constituency losing candidate Charlotte Scott.
Justice Sitali said that the boreholes in question were sunk by the Muslim society at the request of health officials following the outbreak of cholera in the country.
Justice Sitali further observed that Judge Mwiinde Siavyapa was wrong to nullify the election on account of the donation that was made to local churches because it was made outside the campaign period.
The court also ruled that the violence complained of was only confined to a small area and was quickly stopped and did not affect the entire conduct of the election.
The case was presided over by a panel of five judges.
And speaking after the court case Mrs Mwanakatwe said justice has prevailed.
And PF secretary General Davies Mwila said it is good that Mrs Mwanakatwe has won so that she can concentrate on building the economy.
Losing UPND candidate Charlotte Scott had petitioned the Lusaka High Court seeking the nullification of declarations of the Lusaka Central PF Member of Parliament candidate Margaret Mwanakatwe as the winner of the parliamentary elections.
In November 2016, the Lusaka High Court nullified the election of Mrs Mwanakatwe as Member of Parliament for Lusaka Central. In an interview at the time, Dr Scott said the overturning of Mrs Mwanakatwe’s victory meant that justice has been served. She however stated that the plea of the UPND was to have the presidential petition heard. Dr Scott said the evidence coming out of the nullified seats went to confirm that the UPND was robbed of victory.
Expected from the most inept and inconsistent court in the history of Zambia.Up to this day,Ministers who occupied offices illegally have not paid back the money.The court is plain useless.
Off course it was expected, because they are all eating together
The right decision, She is a Finance Minister who is doing VERY well and is accepted as one of the best Ministers in our functioning Government
Well do Margaret on behalf of every noble Zambian
Thanks
BB2014,2016
@1 Independent, The REASONS for overturning the earlier rulings have been made, this is NOT a judgement made from nowhere! Going by what is written here the earlier judgement was totally flawed and it is just good that it has been overturned! YOU MAY NOT LIKE MARGARET MWANAKATWE BUT SHE ALSO ENTITLED TO FAIR TREATMENT AND JUSTICE!!
Let the PF enjoy themselves now.
Time will come soon when they will be residents of mukobeko prison.
A Ministerial position by constitution is the prerogative of the President not Parliament. The constitution separates the appointment of the two. The ministerial position therefore remains in effect even if the Patliamentary side ceases to be in effect. Read the constitution for yourself, appointing and nullifying authorities are separated by Law.
Just take your case to Con-court if you are a minister when the High Court nullifies your seat you will get a favorably result as these are Lazy Lungu’s former classmates…they wouldn’t touch a Finance Minister…I mean if the High Court saw malpractice what has changed?
This makes sad reading …the judgment passed, as it undermines the High Court and the proficiency of our High Court Judges who we pay a lot of money.
We need to fast track these court cases and give them deadlines you can not wait 3 years for a ruling and how does the Con-court Judge know violence was confined to a small area? There should a zero tolerance towards violence.
I totally agree with you Jay Jay. If the High Court received evidence of malpractices, what has changed now? This is undoubtedly a flawed Judgement intended to favour the Minister of Finance so she could not lose her job.This is a rotten society whereby an MP has a pending matter in court and the President goes ahead to appoint her to senior Ministerial post
Governance expert – I don’t think these Concourt Judges have the balls to touch a Finance Minister (maybe they will offered Luo)…you simply can not state that the grounds for nullifying an election are invalid…as XX boreholes were sunk by so and so during campaign period and that the violence was small…we need a zero tolerance towards violence that’s the only way its going to end.
Mushota your katundu is veli big and not veli nice
There were two, so compromise is to sacrifice Luo, who has performed dismally as Minister of Closures of education institutions. All she knows is to threaten.
Margaret sit down!
UPND is delusional. When you lose graciously concede and go away, far away. He doesn’t want to do that too and he will go to the in-laws with something stuck on to show them his shame (his poop). Wait and see.
The KangCourt will eventually render itself irrelevant & defunct by disregarding rule of law & constitution,
One day, very soon, they’ll pay dearly for their PF-biased judgments. Soon they’ll rule Lungu eligible to stand for an illegal 3rd term. Then it’ll be downhill from there onwards. Ask FTJ.
Court of convenience!
UPND reaction is always: TRIBAL first and LOGIC second. They are NOT called a PARTY of INCOMPOS for nothing.
Long overdue … the lawsuit was done with nothing but malicious intent. Congratulations once more, Margaret!!!
You’re doing a heck of a job at Finance. You make all the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise proud!!!
Proud of you
You know that every case has it’s own time and slot right? The money shall be returned. It is the people’s money and not the former ministers.
I KNEW IT THAT THIS MWIINDE SIAVWAPA WAS COMPROMISED BY REGIONAL GROUPING. AS DOUBLE H HAS NOTED, MWIINDE REPRESENTS SOME RARE POLITICALLY CORRUPT ELEMENTS IN THE JUDICIARY. I MAY NOT BE A FUN OF ONE MARGARET BUT I HONESTLY BELIEVE SHE WIRED SHARIOT THAT GUY GUY’S WIFE.
I read between the lines and pointed out immediately that Siavwapa was contaminaned by the spirit of wako ni wako in the ruling. It is amazing how these containants wanted to steal and delodge the democratically elected parliamentarian. Amazing.
Judge, Mwiinde Siavyapa should be retired in National interest, these kind of biased High Court judgments undermine its credibility. The case had no merit to begin with the evidence speaks for itself.
The case was presided over by a panel of five judges.
-Mrs. Mwanakatwe sunk boreholes for the people of Lusaka Central without any evidence
-The boreholes in question were sunk by the Muslim society at the request of health officials following the outbreak of cholera
-The court also ruled that the violence complained of was only confined to a small area and was quickly stopped
-The donation that was made to local churches was made outside the campaign period.
I AM TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE LAW. ITS SO WONDERFUL.
Sounds like when UPND takes government in 2 years, the ConCourt will be closed or there will be totally new judges.
They don’t live in reality! “When UPND comes into power?” He will come into power in NAMWALALAND where he will be PARAMOUNT CHIEF! Will he have power to remove the CONCOURT judges? Keep dreaming.
HH should leave Zambia and go and live in PANAMA for the national interest.
HATRIBES HA LOW Q. (Only the Cadres here sorry to all good TONGAS.)
fOOLISH KANGAROO COURT. Even if you crook people you pathetic fools it wont help you. The truth will still be known…..
Judge Mwiinde and Hakainde have got something in common (nde).
Nde in my language means serial losing or misjudgement.
It’s difficult to really understand how or what went wrong with our governance systems. We can celebrate yes that our preferred individual has won the case in the constitutional court after a high court ruling ruled otherwise. We need to ask ourselves as a country what criterion is used to appoint these so called honorable Judges and how swearing in events are just but a formality. Why don’t the recommended lists of judges undergo a panel of live interviews for transparency and vetting perposes. The same dishonorable judges will turn against the same people that are controlling them and lead the country to the wrong path. For a country to progress morals and good standards need to be set .The next case to cause a storm will be President Lungu’s 2021 bid, mark my words! as the president…
has been on record threating our venerable/feeble Judiciary.
It’s a situation where the Executive has captured the judiciary, ECZ and the legislature. One thing we must know is that there are still men and women of honor in our country and only time will tell.
God bless the republic
Nothing went wrong you Ha wearing wrong lenses blurred in TRIBALISM of UPND. If HH’s thinks like you do with Larry Mweetwa, forget about him being elected in Zambia. Take him to Namwala and crown him a PARAMOUNT CHIEF of TRIBALISM there.
Roger, law interpretation is not about feelings or what one wants, it’s the way you present your case my friend. Consider the 14 day petition period. Some looked at it that it only covers working days. So boss rounding 100 lawyer obvious advantage of winning the cases, no. It’s the way the cases are presentedestroyed that matters. So you can call judges names it won work. Apparently, these are same judges that have ruled in favor of upnd in other cases and you celebrate. Be objective!
If the reasons for nullifying the election are as outlined here, then even a local Nsaka of Junior/Senior headmen would have done better. I cant believe that a High Court Judge would have failed to observe that the donations were done outside the campaign period. I don’t believe that the Judge would have ignored to verify the actual person who sunk the boreholes. Honestly the judge should have asked the drilling contractor who their client was and who actually paid them for the boreholes for a case of this magnitude.
What about the ground based on racial attacks where Ms Mwanakatwe during a debate clearly encouraged the people of Lusaka to only vote for someone who was a real Zambian whose umblical cord was buried in Zambia? She went on to announce that her umblical cord was buried at UTH
Very CHILDISH argument. CHILDISH.
Chitapankwa you couldn’t have put it any better
thus good.
At last justice has prevailed.
This is why we should condemn TRIBALISM. How come Justice Mwiinde passed a wrong judgment on simple election results which he knew plainly that boreholes were sunk by Muslim charities.Violence characterized in LSk center was just an academic exercise by cadres of PF/ UPND.There was a big psychological links between Justice Mwiinde and UPND.
Tribalism and bitterness is the penal code of all this court – Halloween.Furhers of UPND should desist politics of school-tests.
Kangaroos courts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the Kangaroo HH was in it?
You see how unnecessarily costly it is to the nation to have selfish people around who maliciously fail to concede when they are DEFEATED!!!
Upnd during the elections called Mwanakatwe ihule and PF called Charlotte Muzungu? So where was the problem? Kambwili in Luabshya labeled his opponent a kalubale from Angola. ..he was petitioned but won the case.
Siamunene petitioned the election of the Upnd candidate for Sinazongwe and lost but I didn’t hear anyone from Upnd condemning the Livingston High Court Judge who presided the case.
“Support your local team Badala!” Larry Mweetwa.
@Jayjay
Have u ever heard of certitude in error
Judges are not immune to that hence appeals are allowed. But again on my part this is not to conclusively snap concourt
My foot! What errors? The five(5) solid grounds of evidence presented to the court by Charlotte Scott were very clearly written in black and white. No genius needed
I am no supporter of UPND if you remember Maggie’s rants at the time even grounds for racism would be a valid point to nullify those elections!!
When i say many people from the south are tribal,this is what i mean.So High court judge Mr Mwiinde Siavyapa used tribal to reason than using the Law.some tongas,awe sure!!!WHEN PF GOVNT FIRE THEM FROM GOVNT,THEY STILL COMPLAIN-SHOCKING!!Please learned tongas,be objective in your duties and stop reasoning using your tribe!!!Kainde wont take you anywhere because he is a loser!!!SEE WHAT OBJECTIVE JUDGES AT CONCOURT HAVE DONE?Shame on you judge Mwiinde Siavyapa!!!As for Mrs Scott,you cant win under UPND in Lusaka Central-never as Lusaka urban is a PF stronghold no matter how you deserve yourselves in UPND!!!
ANYWAY,CONGRATULATIONS HON.MWANAKATWE!!!
njimbu is a blood racist , evil and very unzambian…………..he is very tribal…… if someone was to take your reasoning, then would somone say that the Annie Stali(husband is Lozi) who is bemba rule for Mwanakatwe because Mwanakatwe is tumbuka married to Bemba………… Really this is very shallow thinking by njimbu……. Shame on you yuong man…………. The Honourable Court has made a decision and we must respect it…………
In other words when His Lordship Deputy Chief justice preside on a matter , he will only favours LOZIs only……Surely some Zambians are very childish and very petty
I urge you to study law but do not be like Lewis Mosho?
Njimbu has hit the nail on the head. At this rate many in sensitive positions will be retired in National interest. Objectivity in dispensing ones civic duties is key. Abash leakages.
Judgement delivered after 3 years. Glaring show of how inefficient our Judiciary has become. Academic. What is technical about this petition that ruling can surely take 3 years. The Zambian judiciary requires new crop of leaders
I thought when the matter goes to the constitutional court, the rationale is to interpret constitutional matters! Just trying to learn, pls help me understand
So Donald J. Trump was right when he alleged that he would not have a fair trial because the Judge was of Mexican extraction.
Zambian courts are now beginning to look like circuses and judges now look like clowns where people just go for the purpose of entertainment.
Finally what we always knew has come to pass. Those who took this matter to court muzamuziba yesu the fees from the lawyers are coming. We have wasted 3 years and others are still going from door to door even after being told palibe mulandu!!! But if as you say those who never got the benefits of free education now have eight wives and are in the village we wish you well when elections come knocking once more…you will cry foul but the world will move on with you stuck in the mud with no four wheel drive…you will again be reduced to boycotting national events, running to foreign media and kneeling before the great man calling for help….
Hon Mwanakatwe, congrats!! This should re-energize and motivate you to even work smartly harder for Mother Zambia and shame your critics in the name of HH and UPND. Please focus on your job to stabilize the Kwacha, grow the economy and create jobs.
You know what, good works don’t lie, as they Bible says, “We shall know them by their fruits”. Even in homes, when the woman is disciplined, even a home is in good shape. Grow the economy and let the people know that you mean well for this country.
HH never gives respect to those who beat him at the ballot. His people never do so too because they follow and worship their errant loser and leader.
Loading…………
the law has a cost………Commit an offence .For example steal a chicken, be arrested , you will be jailed for maybe a year………… The cost of tyring you and imprisoning will be more than the price of chicken……Sadly that is the law…. every litigation has a cost… Mrs Scott and Mrs Mwanakatwe will pay legal costs to their lawyers.
whether you win a case of lose you have to pay a lawyer……………. there is no pro bono is most cases………
The good part lawyers is that they will never treat each other with spite like some of you on yhis blog……
Lawyers give each other respect…….
Uluse Mu ZEDI
Uluse Mu NAMWALA.
Dull HH worshippers
UPND cult god will NEVER be a President.
So now Margaret is free to assume a ministerial post! Except… wait…
This is a very big lesson to the coward opposition parties , you are busy thinking you can put this dictators down alone. it is impossible . there is no rule of law in Zambia . the law as at now is Lungu period . prease come together as one to fight corruption that has rocked this country out of proportion . this is just the beginning , bless for the big worst things coming . the opposition in Zambia are cowards they are always on forums and press briefings , what a nonsense!! why should the opposition speak with their tails forded between thier legs . HH work up . if the forefathers behaved the way you are behaving they wouldn’t have attained this independence we are talking about . Iwe kambwili , Musoni , HH . Silwamba , Chipimo , Luapula prince , and many others come together form…
HH please wake up, this issue of depending on the Untruthful officials should be checked . you have a lot of pretenders , quislings, who are not even seen on the ground . are a politician or academician. amapolitics te yaku trust umunobe . stop roomer mangling . Make every official work and forge forward . cowardice won’t help matters . Icho twapokele impanga kuma mukanwa . Ba PF baonule ichalo muletamba . God is watching
Well it’s always good to have good news in time for the weekend, for Hon. Mwanakatwe anyway. Congratulations. It’s a load off the mind.
Pf won lusaka seats.It’s eve illogical to nulify any elections.We won in lusaka 100% let us not waste money bane for by elections.Even munali Nkandu Luo won .Iam not happy with the current leadership in PF but don’t believe in UPND.UPND is full of bitter pipo.Sometimes they think about tribalism too much.Everything is about bemba chani ooo senga chani let us just be objective .Watchdog should stop tribelism
MOSCOW AND NJIMBU MWASOSA.
TOO MUCH TRIBALISM IN UPND IS WHAT WILL KILL THIS PARTY.
I HAVE GOT A FRIEND OF MINE FROM MONZE AND WHEN WE ASKED HIS SON WHO IS THE PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA,THE BOY SAID IS HAKAINDE HICHILEMA.I WAS SO SURPRISED AND SHOCKED.
I DON’T LIKE THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP OF PF AS MOSCOW AS SAID AND I DON’T THINK PF STOLE ELECTIONS FROM PF AS THEY CLAIM AND TO SAY THAT LUO AND MWANAKATWE USED UNDER HAND METHOD TO WIN IN LUSAKA IS 100% LIE.
UPND CAN NOT WIN IN LUSAKA AND EVEN IF THE COURTS HAD TO NULLIFY MUNALI AND LUSAKA CENTRAL,UPND WILL STILL LOOSE.
IT IS HIGH TIME THAT UPND HAS TO CHANGE THE LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTY.
Funny thing is that they don’t think what they do is tribalism. There’s this gentleman in Kitwe who heads a non political movement at one church. To everyone’s surprise the gentleman campaigns openly for Upnd.
ECL already knew the outcome of this case from the beginning thats why he never asked maggie to step aside whilst waiting for the judgement as would have been under normal circumstances.On a positive note at least we have saved money over a costly by-election.
We are finished so the con court judge is behaving like Mwanakatwe’s lawyer. There are videos everywhere on social media and serious claims that this f$$lish judge admits to in her judgment occurred but yet decided to ignore all the malpractices and goes to great length offers answers to defend Mwanakatwe as if she was paid by her. This judge needs to know that all their bad decisions will haunt them as no one else is benefiting from them apart from and their pay master
The Role of Concourt should be defined. Concourt should not Re-trial the Petetion by looking at the so called evidence of malpractices. Concourt’s Role should be to consider the question of Law and not examaning evidence. With a compromise Concourt ECL will be allowed to run for a 3rd Term and he will win thru election rigging. ECZ, ZPS, Concourt etc will condone a rigged election in 2021. The writing is on the Wall.
“…Judge Mwiinde Siavyapa was wrong to nullify the election on account of the donation that was made to local churches because it was made outside the campaign period…..?”.
Which village is the Judge Siavwa
This is a clear political decision. Concourt judges appointed by a President who appoints Mwanakatwe. What do you expect? You think they would bite the hand of their gravy train? The high court used law. This so-called Constitutional Court has only applied political expediency.
This regime spells out what it expects from all as soon as it appoints them. No room for objectivity, independence or thinking. A primitive power hungry thieving paranoid ruling party is what you have.
Everything is overturning in Zambia at the moment. You even wonder where to run to in this state of affairs.
If you take any matter before court be ready accept the out come either positive or negative. Why think to case will be in your favor just because it’s you who too it their. In most cases when one looses election their judgement is affect and make quick decisions with support of their equally crying supporters without considering facts. I you followed the all trial and judgement on the same matter in high court you will see if your have independent mind that it was empty and lacked merit. judge mwinde siavyapa Rulling was on weak ground.