UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema says the Constitutional Court ruling that Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini exceeded his Constitutional powers when he declared the Roan parliamentary seat vacant should result in his removal from Office.
Mr Hichilema said such a breach by a learned Lawyer is too huge for him to remain in Office.
He says where there is honour, the Speaker should consider resigning from his position to preserve his integrity.
And former Roan PF Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili says he will soon write to the National Assembly demanding for compensation, following the Constitutional Court ruling that the Speaker was wrong to declare his seat vacant.
Mr Kambwili has warned that he will consider taking legal action should the National Assembly refuse to compensate him for the speaker’s error.
The Constitutional Court ruled on Monday that Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Patrick Matibini exceeded his Constitutional powers when he declared the Roan Parliamentary seat which was held by Chishimba Kambwili vacant.
Dr Matibini on February 27, 2019 declared Kambwili’s Parliamentary seat vacant on allegations he crossed the floor of the House when he accepted the appointment of National Democratic Congress consultant.
This was after Malambo Member of Parliament Makebi Zulu raised a point of order regarding the same.
But in a landmark ruling delivered by Constitutional Court President Hildah Chibomba, Judges Annie Sitali, Mungeni Mulenga, Palan Mulonda and Martin Musaluke, they stated that while the Speaker was well within his power to respond to the point of order that was raised on the floor of the house, he exceeded his powers when he proceeded to apply the purpose canon of interpretation of statute in order to cure the lacuna that he identified in Article 72 of the Constitution.
The judges stated that Dr Matibini exceeded his in power as the function of interpreting the law in the Constitution was vested in the judiciary, the branch of government to who he is assigned that delicate task.
Our speaker acted out of cohesion from PF………………….He knows that he is not a judge to pass a judgment which he did on Kambwiri!!!!!!!!!! Therefore Kambwiri has the right to make a claim for compensation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Patrick Martabin must compensate Kambwiri using his money not our Tax payers money…that is his mistake which is a sign of incompetency………………………..!
HH you have lost elections 5 times and no one in your party is asking for you to be removed for sheer undemocratic incompetence. So please keep quiet and stay humble .
the last 2 of the 5 elections were rigged by you kz
hh has only lost the first 3 elections. point of correction
Comment:Why can’t Kaizer Zulu leave HH alone for once.Jesus was rejected by the “dark world”but HE brought deliverance for all.
So Kaizer Zulu should find other means to show his unnecessary loyalty to his supreme.
Kaizar Zulu, you are an election th!ef who stole the last election from HH.
Unfortunately for you, people have now awoken, after being gassed by your minions, and will not allow you to so do in 2021.
KZ is an intellectual dwarf.
Ba Davies Mwila, is this a dull speaker or what?
A judge cannot be forced out of the office for making a wrong judgement
Put simply, the issue is not that Matibini’s ruling was right or wrong, the issue is that according to the constitution he was in no position to make the ruling
KZ you are the most dull person in zambia. Do you have family in any part of zambia if yes how are they living with this hard life our families facing? Check for 2012 debts and price of mealie-meal and 2019/2020 how high it has gone. You are still sleeping and dreaming about these sh*t leaders. Mart (bin) must pay him using his money
The speaker is an embarrassment and he should go.Add to this is bill 10 meant to sustain a tribal dictatorship
KZ U ARE JUST SUFFOCATING THE LT. AND MOREOVER YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED CZ YOUR SHADOW IS HAUNTING U. LEAVE HH ALONE. SEAT AND REFLECT ON THE CHARMS YOU HAVE AND SEER 1 EXPOSED U PEOPLE.
Rule of law demands Speaker resigns because he is in breech of the constitutional. Period!!
Kaizer your days are numbered this time around you will not have a chance to rig the elections or else it will go Malawi way Military (people’s power) vs Police the Zambian police needs a nice beating for sleeping in the same bed with the PF.
Wonders never cease in this country! Why didn’t the concourt order that Kambwili remains in Parliament pending determination of the matter by the court?….All these complications wouldn’t have arisen. And these speakers of the national assembly are they not oriented on their DOs and DONTs before ushered into office? And here we are talking about a speaker who is a very learned lawyer! Eishhhhhh…………
Quote: Dr Matibini on February 27, 2019 declared Kambwili’s Parliamentary seat vacant on allegations he crossed the floor of the House when he accepted the appointment of National Democratic Congress consultant.
This was after Malambo Member of Parliament Makebi Zulu raised a point of order regarding the same.
* am worried as a zambian citizen makebi and matibini are lawyers and all this was not noticed by both? is this not the same makebi and group pushing for Bill 10? and the same matibini will preside as speaker?* Lord have mercy on our country.
I ask for logical minds only to read my commment and pass comment afterwards, remove your emotional attachment to your political affiliation.
There is a local court, Magistrate, High Court and Supreme Court which is at par with the Constitutional Court. it has happened often that a judgment from the lower court has been upheld by all courts only to be overtuned in the Supreme Court,
Do we then demand for the resignaton of the people in the lower courts? of course not. Martibini was wrong, and liability is limited to his role as speaker of the national assembly, not personally.
To demand for his resigntion is a notch too high, and i believe HH is simply yelling resignation all the time, even when it is not neccesary.
This is very simple , the constitutional court are saying they are the ones who have the power to enterprete the law with regard to the descision taken by the speaker. But what the concourt should be saying is “was the descision take by the speaker incorrect under the circumstance” or according to the laws of Zambia. Mr. Kambwili should not be overly excited over the statement by concourt.
Spiderly Existence!
I like your analysis and not all lawyers are constitutional lawyers. When a general doctor operates on a patient and later refereed to a specialist doctor and it’s established that the general doctor made a mistake, they don’t ask him to reign or fire him if that is first time. HH is asking the speaker on a personal level because too has failed our party in many ways but we have not demanded that he reigns.Period
Which country in the world allows private citizens to preside over their parliamentary affairs of the country other than the appointed speaker of the house?
Just wondering were these not the same Judges that were Lambasted by some sect for ruling on the 14 Days Item. are they Heroes today or they Just Made another Mistake?
Corruption and caderisim is ruling Zambia ……
Among those ruling us learned lawyers are acting like caders and caders are acting like lawyers ….and the president mingles with thugs
That’s the only thing HH thinks about firing people. He thinks he knows it all. Sometimes its better to keep quiet and learn from others.
@Khumalo Mthunzi – you are so funny and I wonder if your statement or observation is a joke or you are for real. Can’t stop laughing! You are trying to sound smart but you are falling very short my dear friend. What do you mean by a ‘general doctor?’ and what do you mean by ‘operation’ Please do not confuse terms and probably think general doctors work at general hospitals lol. medicine as you know or may not know is a multifaceted discipline which allows for specialisation in disparate branches of this discipline. For example, heart surgeon, paediatrician, gynaecologist, obstetrician and so on… only in Zambia would you find your so called general doctor removing your brain and fill it up with water and then claim he wasn’t a brain surgeon but a general doctor for whatever that means!…
HH doesn’t seem to know how to make himself relevant amidst a million opportunities! I wonder who advises him.
Popolilo you have just picked my thoughts. HH frustrates me a lot with his having a say on everything. There are very serious issues affecting the people that have the power to put him in the GRZ saddle but he misses the opportunity to engage with them. Indeed where are his advisors??? Or they advise him but he ignores them?? HH please read the post of Popolipo and start doing the right thing. Ba HH bena most of the time kuwayawayafye
In these constitutional offices, sometimes you have to do what you have to do for the sake of progress.
Amend your laws to be clear when someone is prostituting politically to avoid leaving it up to judges to adjudicate.
If the laws leave loose ends, tie the ends and lets have meaning to our laws.
H², please join hands with progressive Zambians to amend the constitution through bill 10.
Don’t just yap making impossible calls. Yak!! Act h². Show us some meat. Bear bones.
The actions of the speaker caused Kambwili to be disadvantaged which is not right and looks like the decision of the speaker was personal. Kambwili must sue to be compensated for all the misery they caused him for personal vendetta by the PF speaker. I also demand that he resign because he is clearly compromised.
Bo Ndate HH has resorted to wade through a path of CHIPANTEPANTE which will lead him into a chasm of self destruction. We pray that the Zambian Judicial System could emulate the wisdom of their South African colleagues on how the Judiciary in that country cautiously guard against encroaching into areas of other Constitutional arms of Govt (Executive & Parliament). It may be in the interest of our vibrant promising politicians to sharpen their intellectual gifts by investing in the study of Law degrees at Unza and UNILUS, This will auger well for Zambia to be flagged as a Nation
where common sense and civilization prevails in Africa.
Very true Mwansa Kabinga. At the rate HH responds to each and every political/economic occurrence he will fail to reach his destination. He has the Media Team, great minds of his MPs like Cornelius Mweetwa and Gary Nkombo to respond to these routine blunders of the PF in GRZ so his concentration is to win over voters in weak areas as he consolidates areas where the UPND is strong. HH you get delayed to your reach your destination because you stop to peep at each and every window/door that opens at you. Your focus should be the electorate. What will you do better to improve their welfare. HH ena kuti mwananka kwati cinkula.
The speaker must be impeached if he does not resign. He acted unprofessionally and compromised himself. The house should not forgive him but set a precedent by removing him to deter would be offenders in his position as speaker in the future. PF has a tendency of messing up come ask for forgiveness, pray, then go mess up again come ask for forgiveness, call for prayers, then go mess up still taking advantage of easy going zambians who like forgiving every nonsense without punishment.
This has been a PF cadre through and through.
It is not surprising .
He cannot resign because it is all about eating with PF.
Wonders shall never end! When did HH recognize the CONCOURT as an institution constitutionally mandated to preside over constitutional matters in Zambia? When did he start respecting its rulings and its Judges?
Osadabwa imagine since when did HH recognized the concourt,this guy is not composed and wonder why some people support such yap yap yap.
Why did Kambwili went ahead and chose his candidate to stand on NDC and campaigned for him and today he is saying he is an MP for Loan,total confusion from CK.You know that it is not possible for Matibini to pave way you start yapping and wasting time, let us move on we have something important to talk about than talking about Matibini removal.This is the problem we have in Zambia even leaders like HH wasting on Matibini,come on let us move on we have something to talk about.
sure we have important issues to talk about than wasting time on useless stories it is time to move on.
HH OR HICHILEMA IS ON RECORD THAT HE HAS LOST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 5 TIMES! GO TO ELECTION COMMISSION OF ZAMBIA, THE RECORDS ARE THERE! YOU ARE NOT EVEN SHY TO COME OUT LIKE THAT “BO ZAMBIAN SUPPORTER”. ACTUALLY HH RIGGED ELECTIONS IN SOUTHERN AND WESTERN PROVINCE IN 2016 THAT’S WHY HE WAS EVEN ABLE TO GET THAT CLOSE TO LUNGU’S RESULTS, OTHERWISE HE WAS BEATEN CLEAN! HE WILL BE BEATEN CLEAN IN 2021 BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A NEW VOTERS ROLL WHERE UNDER-AGE CHILDREN WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED FOR REGISTRATION LIKE UPND DID IN 2016 IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE. HOW CAN DUNDUMWEZI HAVE ALMOST 50,000 REGISTERED VOTERS? MEANING 50,000 PEOPLE ARE ABOVE 16 YEARS OLD IN DUNDUMWEZI. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE. SO YOU WILL BE CHECKED IN 2021. HH WILL NEVER WIN ELECTIONS AT PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL BECAUSE HE RELIES…
Fellow bloggers I thought that CK is one the seasoned politicians this country has ever produced, who was on top of the HILL supporting and shouting in favour of the current constitution. The gentleman wouldn’t entertain any divergent views pertaining to the same constitution particularly from the opposition by then. Can it said that the gentleman has tasted his own concussion? Any way that’s not my bone of contention at the moment. For now I only 3 questions for CK.
1. DOC, didn’t you know that the speaker exceeded his powers by interpreting the law? May be you did that’s why you went to court. But why didn’t file in an injunction against ECZ so that they could not go ahead with the bye election till your case was disposed of?
2. Ba DOC were you not aware that by actively…
Normally a speaker should be above board,partial and sober when dealing with parliamentary issues.Otherwise he/she will be seen as favoring one part over the other. The way he handled CK’s case was very unprofessional full of interested parties influence.There-by bring the country’s integrity in managing its affairs into disrepute.To say the least it has brought shame & embarrassment to both us in diaspora & back home.Going forward lets give him a benefit of doubt we are all humans we are prone to mistakes.Let him come out of the shell & apologize to the nation for gross incompetency
@Kaizar Zulu
Your comment is off the mark, i.e. it has nothing to do with the topic of the article!
Would you please explain the difference between “undemocratic incompetence” and democratic incompetence??
“So please keep quiet and stay humble” – excellent advice you give to others.
Why not try to follow it YOURSELF??
Your analogy is nosense!
Matibini has made the same mistake for the second time. He did the same to GBM when he accepted UPND Vice President position.
It, therefore, follows that Matibini has no regard for Parliament and was able to do injustice again knowing that the damage would have achieved the removal of CK from parliament without any cost to speaker.
I, therefore, urge punitive measures against the speaker. He may already have been paid by PF for deliberately breach of constitutional.
He was ordered by the executive to do so.
That is just an iceberg of how there’s no separation of powers in this colonial democracy!!
Banene, you will run out of judges if every time a judge errs in law his or her tenure is terminated!!!
Why are UPND lawyers so intent on letting Hakainde down? Are they not satisfied with the previous Presidential petition disaster?
Put CKinsultor and H² in one basket or pot, you get yourself a basket full of 1di0+ criminals making impossible noise.
Tinazigo’nga nama opposition baso? Aikona.
Problem is kainde has no respect for any GRZ officer. How can you want to take over a GRZ you don’t respect?? Only one thing would happen, he would want to change the whole system and replace it with his own loyal appointees. Radical changes again?? I don’t think so, we need continuity, we need those taking over picking up the good from their predecessors and improve on them-NOT THIS ATTITUDE hh IS SHOWING US!!!
Supporters of HH are hoping in vain that if HH wins the Republican Presidency the Tongas will displace other tribes in all vital positions of public institutions. Just take a glance at staffing positions in a private institution such as Cavendish University which has been chocked by Tongas resulting in down-grading academic standards. Food for thought.
Birds of the same feathers flock together. Kambwili and HH are typical examples of deceptive economic plunderers. Kambwili was all geared to chew GRATUITY payment from National Assembly by the time Parliament was scheduled to dissolved in 2021. A credible opposition Party would not have supported such a plot of DAY-LIGHT ROBBERY selfishly engineered by Kambwili. Hence HH’s reaction exposes him to political ridicule. It is a pity that members of UPND are being taken for a ride in an auto-piloted plane heading to a destination of non-existence – come 2021.
Removing Matibine from office will not work bo HH.Why are you so ignorant to the extent of deceiving Zambians,for the speaker to be removed you need one third of support in parliament which upnd qualifies but that is only stage 1,the second stage bo HH you need to have a two third support which will make it difficult for bo HH to pull through and this is a well known factor by bo hh so why make noise thinking it will work,this is share waste of time bo hh and ck.You two bo hh and ck are big liars and don’t take Zambia for a ride.God will sort you out.
Akaninde’s rantings now too monotonous.