Minister of Justice, Mulambo Haimbe, has stated that the Constitutional Court did not make a pronouncement as to the eligibility of Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji to contest the Kabushi and Kwacha Parliamentary seats, respectively.
Mr Haimbe stated that the petitioners in Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji’s case were seeking the Court’s relief on four matters namely, whether the decision by the Electoral Commission of Zambia to reject the dual’s nomination was illegal, null and void.
He added that the other matter pertained to whether the applicants are eligible to contest the 15th September, 2022 by elections and whether fresh nominations should be conducted, as well as what is meant by causing a vacancy in the National Assembly.
Mr Haimbe has however noted that from the issues raised, the Court dealt with the issue of causing a vacancy as the other matters were not properly before the court.
“The Court never made any pronouncement declaring the ECZ statement of 24th August, 2022 illegal or wrongful,” he said
Mr Haimbe has since called for calm while the High Court determines the issues in contention between the parties and the Electoral Commission of Zambia, citing that it is incorrect for anyone to give an impression that the court declared Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji eligible to recontest in the By-Elections.
Meanwhile, Opposition Economic and Equity Party Leader Chilufya Tayali said that Justice Minister Mulambo Haimbe who is attempting to guide the Electoral Commission of Zambia on how to proceed with the Kabushi and Kwacha by-elections, has no authority to interpret the meaning and effect of the decision of Constitutional Court.
Mr Tayali stated that its desperation for the Justice Minister to interpreting the judgement to everyone and he should be ashamed of the injustice meted on the duo
“This is why I am saying these people (President Hichilema and his Government) what to be everything ‘Dictatorship’ and it is clear that they pushed the Electoral Commission of Zambia in this position which is why Mr Haimbe was sitting in Court during the proceedings to intimidate the judges,” Mr Tayali stated
Mr Tayali added that the matter is simple, as the judges clear stated that a nullification is not an automatic qualification, and that the Electoral Commission of Zambia overstepped its boundaries.
“We don’t need all the other issues the Minister is trying to bring in,” he said
He explained that from the statement issued, people such as Mr Haimbe should be guilty of having prejudiced Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji as they should be looking at ways and means to rectify the injustice, not giving his own version of the duo’s judgement.
“It was wrong to have disqualified the duo and that is an injustice to be borne by the New disaster Government and the Electoral Commission of Zambia,” Mr Tayali said
Yesterday, the Constitutional Court ruled that both former Kabushi Member of Parliament Bowman Lusambo and the former Kwacha Member of Parliament Joseph Malanji are eligible to recontest their former seats.
In passing judgment on a matter in which Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji challenged the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) decision to reject their nomination on the basis that they are not eligible to recontest their seats for having caused a vacancy in the National Assembly, Judge Palan Mulonda who presented the majority decision cited that the Constitutional Court ruled that the nullification of the duo’s elections did not amount to disqualification as Article 72 (2) distinguishes the difference between nullification and disqualification which cannot be used interchangeably.
Judge Mulonda ruled that candidates whose seats have been nullified are eligible to stand as the Constitution specifies the circumstances under which candidates are disqualified from taking part in an election.
Judge Mulonda further cited that the Court stressed the difference between nullification and disqualification, citing that a nullification does not cause a disqualification.
Here we go again….. you people will start a war otherwise these two elections won’t take place I can assure you.
<This is ping-pong and what lawyers do looking for technicalities, until they find a judge who favours their stance. HH needs to fire the *Justice Minister, *Information Minister & *Mines Minister. These chaps are incompetent, bringing unnecessary embarrassment to the president. This guy wrongly advised ECZ or, HH. Now saving his face.
1. Nullification means – Make legally null and void; invalidate. Make of no use or value; cancel out.
2. Disqualification means – Declare someone ineligible for an office, activity, or competition because of an offence or infringement. Rather to, Ban, Prohibit, Forbid, Bar, Exclude
OK, I agree, chikkala Haimbe was not supposed to be in court like an assassin.
Those Malanje and Lusambo yes were unjustly stripped naked like foreigners in South Africa. And the two have no value anymore.
INDEPENDENT OBSERVER @ 1.1
I am on the same page with you.
Bad advisors such as this Justice Minister/Haimbe are the folks putting the president in predicaments.
They are not strong enough to tell the president the truth, but to please him at all cost.
In the end its HH who gets ridiculed. UPND, ECZ, (Thabo Kawana) the minister of information, permanent secretary have all been making political decisions and telling lies, far away from keeping the law, that’s why they are all over the place on this matter.
Indirectly instructing the ECZ to ignore s court order….at rule of law what nonsensical rubbish.
Its like the UPND don’t want the two or they don’t want competition, the best way to go about this is the concourt way it will not bring harm to any one , the more the party in power continue fighting this it will expose them to a point of no retune
They are already exposed… they replaced the management at the ECZ with Yes men. For me it doesn’t matter who is being victimized but that justice must be enjoyed by citizens without discrimination.
The UPND are already exposed in their evil designs.
What caused the nullification? Violence, bribes, fake grade 12 certificates? So then how do we allow candidates who have not played a fair game another chance at doing what they did before? What is going to deter Bulldozer to slap a few cadres and bribe some marketeers??? Do we want Malanji to now come up with a fake degree???? No wonder we are where we are.
Learn to read, Malanji has a grade 12 certificate and the reason his election was petitioned was for malpractices and when the petition witnesses refused to support him, the judge sneaked in the certificate issue. Read the first Concourt judgement in full….it was acknowledged that Malanji had genuine certificate but the court still went ahead to nullify the election.
Joseph Malanji has no G12 certificate.
He has three GCE certificates totalling eight subjects with distinction in English.
1st one, 3 subjects
2nd one, 3 subjects
3rd one, 2 subjects
Conditions of G12 cert: minimum 6 subjects.
Thus he has a grade 12 equivalent acceptable by ECZ for elections.
Don’t entertain lies about his qualifications.
As for dishing out CDF and other moneys, UPND is doing it in Ndola and Kitwe.
Same whatsapp group.
…..He should be advising ECZ not being scared of playing with Bally’s big balls
The problem with the Constitutional court is that it never answers the question that is put to it. Instead, the court picks its own question and answers that one. They did the same thing on Lungu’s eleigibilty and they have done it again. They are like a woman whom a man asks, ‘Will you marry me?’ She answers, ‘I would not refuse to marry you. I have no problem with marrying any man’ whom I like.’ Is that a yes or a no?
So the same court endorsed the nullification and you rejoiced and the same court says it didn’t ban the duo from recontesting, it becomes a useless court.
Third term. A term of office. Vaupuwa vatipezanso. Brace for another clowning season.
<This is ping-pong and what lawyers do looking for technicalities, until they find a judge who favours their stance. HH needs to fire the *Justice Minister, *Information Minister & *Mines Minister. These chaps are incompetent, bringing unnecessary embarrassment to the president. This guy wrongly advised ECZ or, HH. Now saving his face.
1. Nullification means – Make legally null and void; invalidate. Make of no use or value; cancel out.
2. Disqualification means – Declare someone ineligible for an office, activity, or competition because of an offence or infringement. Rather to, Ban, Prohibit, Forbid, Bar, Exclude
This matter should go to the Criminal Court for ECZ to defend their position and possibly to convict the guilty.
What is the consequences for corruption and violence on part of a candidate during elections……….????
Like Mutale Nalumango buying votes in Kabushi. Oh no I forgot she owns the country so she can do whatever she wants.
Deja vu
I’m surprised you are pointing out someone who is a bemba which is a never on your part…..
But……….
Was she dishing out unaccounted cash like lusambo or milanji ???
I’m not one who supports nonsense just because we’re from the same village. Wrong is wrong.
So what do you call lusambos election violence with his NATO forces and bribing the electorate ??
There we go again! More confusion……..
I said animals are more organized than Zambians. A pride of lions know who should lead the hunt. Males don’t mount fellow males. Monkeys know when an enemy is near because they have only one scout to do the warning.
What Haimbe doesn’t realize is that he is making it obvious to the ordinary person that it’s the Upnd which is barring Lusambo to contest his Kabushi seat.. this is Masala, he has never been there. Let him ask those who have been there.
I was in Kwacha Constituency last month. The people are so annoyed with UPND’s attempts to bar Malanji that the place can easily explode. Is the UPND itching for civil war?
We are not interested in technical jargon. Just tell us if they are allowed to contest or not.
How can he tell… his intentions are to make sure Bowman and Malanji don’t stand…why can’t they let them stand and whack them and the polls? Why create opportunities for riots?
This the problem of corruption a cartel of well organised elements can drail the good systems and eventually bring about confusion in the nation. In corrupt nations even the lawyers lose their brains and tiittles of wisdom indecies.. If you observe very carefully only the corrupt inclined and alledged and well known plunderers of national resources are the ones celebrating the concort verdict.
And what are you? I’m sure you will deny that you have ever stolen anything in your life even relish from your mother’s pot.
Some people are either regretably igonorant or just merely pretending to to support the unwise judgement and condemnation of ECZ, which was just fllowiing the guidelines which were available and given to it, Well meaning citizens are now doubting the crdibity of our judges. According to guidelines, given to ECZ to accept the nomination , include a) acandiate must a zambian b) a must have …supporters ….. c) a candidate must hav a grade 12 certificate. d) acandidadate must have not caused a vacancy for a by election etc . under sanity and nrmal circumstance ther could ba no questions nor argueents when implemeters follow that.
it’s abundantly obvious that Haimbe is not fit to be Minister of Justice. If HH is not careful, this man will embarrass him in the end. One can see that UPND is scared of Lusambo and Malanji. I expect ECZ to announce the postponement of the 15th September by-elections to another date to allow Lusambo and Malaanji to file their nominations and recontest their seats. If they don’t, it means they are under Haimbe’s capture because the Concourt’s judgement was clear and straightforward that the two gentlemen could recontest their seats. Playing games like what Haimbe and Macdonald Chipenzi are doing on this issue will not work.
Nimbwa!
This is the most useless and EVIL-MINDED Minister of Justice on Planet Earth. If he is allowed to over-stay as Cabinet Minister in Zambia, the chap will have fumigated massive poisonous spray that will make his President end-up very badly intoxicated in his political and social life by the end of his Presidential term. This chap is actually a misfit in the legal profession.
The entire machinery hates these two former law makers and have vowed to hurt them at all costs.
This is not justice, but vengeance
Isn’t the MoJ disparaging the Concourt contempteously?
First of all, why is the Minister of Justice, Haimbe, trying to assume Constructional powers he does NOT have? The powers of verifying whether someone is eligible to stand in an election lies with ECZ, not the Minister of Justice. And so far the basis on which ECZ refused to consider the nominations of Lusambo and Malanji has been unequivocally debunked by the Highest Court in the land, why is Haimbe/UPND still trying so hard to complicate a non-complicated issue? The court says Malanji and Lusambo were NEVER disqualified, only the elections which the duo won were nullified, and the court goes out of its way explaining the difference between NULLIFICATION and DISQUALIFICATION, yet you still have people like this Minister coming up with JUNK OPINIONS to justify his prejudices and bias. If…
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…we can no longer RESPECT the judgements of our courts, where are we headed as a country? Remember, DICTATORS/DICTATORSHIPS are NOT BORN, they are MADE by the likes of this Minister. What is this fixation on the part UPND to FIX Lusambo/PF steming from? FIX the economy, otherwise you are LOSING FOCUS and wasting time in the process!
The elephant in the room is…………
How serious a crime is electoral malpractice like using extreme violence and open bribery as was the case……..
With lusambo and his NATO forces ???
Is just cancelling elections and rerunning them enough of a deterance for this PF speciality scurge ????
This is like you get caught cheating in an exam…………
And after being ejected from the exam room ………
, you demand to still sit the same exams at the same times……….
Use your brains for once
Stop appeasing law breakers and take your head out of your ass for once and see a crime for what it is ……a crime.
use=======lessss justice minister instructing ECZ to ignore the constitution.Zambia indeed is under dictatorship.these chaps can’t accept when they lose election.Seeing the true color.They were too much in apposition and anything concerning power would bring chaos.
This minister alilya mabisi zoona.He can’t even be ashemed.Making HH so unpopular
GRZ needs to use thete all to uphold electoral laws………….
Crimes were committed during elections, especially in kapushi……..
A mere slap on the hands and a rerun of elections is not a deterant enough……
The problem is this lacuna Constitution that contradicts itself and appears like it was written by 5th Graders… and these stooges tasked with interpreting it.
Yes I agree nullification does not equal disqualification. But elsewhere the same Constitution says a candidate is not eligible if they cause a vacancy in parliament. So who caused the vacancy in parliament. Someone must have caused it and that person is not eligible.
Nothing really changed from PF to UPND… same difference really which is annoying.
By the way you “nullify” an election that has been won by a candidate… you don’t “disqualify”…. disqualification happens at the start of an election not after it has been done and supposedly won.
A nullification can cause a disqualification at the next election… if that candidate whose election win has been nullified “caused the vacancy”.
The whole situation is in shambles as people’s judgment is clouded by partisan politics. No one is thinking straight… just let them recontest and amend the Constitution to make it clearer.
Yes ……….
And punish who ever was responsible for the election violence and corruption……..
Zambian politics has been reduced to arguing about the correct English meaning or interpretation…………..
This GRZ is too weak to be letting criminals interprate the English langue how they see fit to cover up electrol crime……..
kkkkkkkkkkk isoni ebuntu let the guys contend what are they afred of kanshi.MMMMMMM kkkkkkk this is vengence nothing else but people handling this mustbe extremly carefull before it is too late, we dont want regrets when people are fired.
The entire Upnd PR team starting from Chushi Kasanda down to Spaka don’t how put up a convincing act. They showed this in Kabwata by election when they tried to change their candidate
Ba Minister leave this machinations to the Ministr for information
Haimbe is stup.id, arrogant, full of himself, pride for nothing..These cowards in upnd can’t win … can’t match Bowman or Malanji they are dead scared of the two it’s like a rat that sees a cat….This useless party called upnd the truth is far away from them unless lying…Since 1964 .. Haimbe keep on exposing your foolish.ness,besides there is nothing honorable about you..