Patriotic Front lawyers representing Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji have been commenting on the Lusaka High Court’s decision that the by elections in Kabushi and Kwacha should not go ahead as scheduled on 15th September 2022 until the main matter under court is determined.
The Court on Tuesday granted Mr. Lusambo and Mr.Malanji a stay for the by elections not to proceed.
ECZ barred the two from re-contesting their old seats on account that they were not eligible, a decision they have challenged in the courts.
The former Kabushi and Kwacha lawmakers have told court that they would suffer prejudice if the by elections went ahead in the two constituencies.
Lawyer Makebi Zulu said after the Tuesday ruling that the solicitor general raised an issue which will be determined on Thursday.
Mr. Zulu expressed confidence that the legal matter and all issues raised by the two arguing parties could be concluded by next week.
“There will not be any elections in Kabushi and Kwacha until the matter is determined. It was imperative on ECZ upon the filing of our application that they stayed or suspended the elections pending the determination of this matter but instead they did not. This proves to us that they are not as independent as they ought to. In this particular case the court has seen it fit that the matter be stayed until they determine this matter which halfway has been done, in that the Constitutional Court has said the nullification is not a disqualification,” Mr. Zulu told reporters outside court.
“We have agreed to proceed with the matter and they have raised an issue which will be determined on Thursday. Then Friday we are coming to have the main matter heard. In which case we expect that by next week there should be a final judgment but for now there are no elections in Kabushi. No elections in Kwacha until the court determines. That is the rule of law and that is the justice that we came here to seek,” he said.
Meanwhile, lawyer Tutwa Ngulube explained the court’s decision made on Tuesday afternoon.
“There are a lot of questions as to what has happened today. Why are you coming back on Thursday? I think you heard. In brief, history is that we went to the Concourt, asking Concourt to stop ECZ from blocking Honourable Malanji and Honourable Lusambo. We presented four questions; the Constitutional Court said they will not get into those other issues, they will just interpret the constitution and they interpreted the constitution to mean Honourable Malanji and Honourable Bowman qualify to stand as Members of parliament in Kwacha and Kabushi. We expected that the ECZ on its own would have cancelled the elections and called for fresh nominations so that honourable Malanji and Honourable Bowman appear on the ballot paper,” Mr. Ngulube said.
“When they (ECZ) didn’t do that we came to the High Court, to ask the court to stop the election and allow us to argue the main matter. Today as we are speaking the high court has stopped the election in Kwacha and Kabushi. The Court has also said they will hear the main petition on Friday. Now, just when we were about to come to court, the solicitor general produced some documents saying that they have made an application for constitutional reference. They want the matter to go back to the Constitutional Court. So, anyway the court has said we will not throw it out, we will hear you on Thursday. What we know is that the Concort has already said the power to deal with members of Parliament and their nominations is with the High Court,” he said.
Mr. Ngulube concluded:”They can only deal with the Presidential candidates so now telling us that they want to go back to the Constitutional Court we won’t comment but we will allow you to judge for yourself, who is wasting whose time. So we will come back on Thursday to hear whether the court should refer back the matter to the Constitutional Court or not and then on Friday we will come back to come and argue the main matter whether the ECZ was wrong in refusing to stop the elections or not.”
My worry isn’t about Malanji or Lusambo being eligible or not, or the UPND using underhand methods to try and remove the two from Parliament and to illegally bar them from re-contesting their seats. My worry is that since the advent of multi party democracy in 1990, Zambia hasn’t grown politically. It’s embarrassing that we are in this situation. Our lawyers are a big disappointment as well. What’s the benefit to the nation of one being conferred with the status of State Counsel? AG Kabesha Mulilo was recently conferred with such honour, what’s his advice to GRZ on this matter? What about those that already that hold that decorum? What’s stopping them from guiding the nation? It’s a shame that the one would elect to shift the Highest Office in the land for 5 days to walk door to…
Lawyers have been Zambia’s biggest dissappointment since the arrival of democracy. They fight for nothing and its them to blame that laws like Presidential defamation have survived from 1991. Apart from some lone wolves like John Sangwa and Levy Mwanawasa a Zambian lawyer only knows one thing: How to make money from a client. They dont know how to fight for citizens’ rights.
Ayatollah # 1
My hope is that, these legal minds advising UPND can read the comments you just raised and briefly articulated. Put it simply, there is a problem for Zambia. We need to spend time addressing the root cause of these problems. And your point is one of them !!!
The UPND chaps hell-bent and that keep disrespecting the outcome of court judgements will destroy HH’s reputation. The cattle boy, the world has come to know and the new-kid-on-the-block who has received international support will soon be called undemocratic by the same people praising him. The world has changed, Global-Market-Makers don’t like leaders perceived to be dictators, ruthless and undemocratic. This can squeeze Zambia frozen from International Markets. So far they have started question HH’s style of leadership. HH is sounding nice with his right hand, while doing the opposite with his left hand.
Actually Lawyers from LAZ, Chifumu Banda and others tried to advise, but some full Lawyers failed to advise the President. The Justice Minister was equally misleading the nation, shame!
It’s a shame that one would elect to shift the Highest Office in the land for 5 days to walk door to door in Kabushi and Kwacha to campaign in an illegal election process? I’m disappointed with him. How will the 2 seats affect his delivery on his campaign promises? I think we need to be serious and mature in what we do. There’s no maturity in this case, SHAME!
Ayatollah – You are just contradicting yourself there…its not the President who decides whether an election is illegal or not if ECZ state that the election will go ahead as planned he can not say oh this is an illegal ellection I will stay in Lusaka. Its absolute utter nonsenical what you are posting here….give your head a wobble
2.1, You seem to suggest that the President is a fellow without a brain. Those of us that have followed this case have concluded that the ECZ didn’t act independently, especially in the case of Malanji. It was on this forum that I said this was going to cost the nation and that’s exactly what has happened. If can foretell when I don’t even have special assistants, legal advisers, the Attorney General, etc to consult, how about a person that has all and more at his disposal? Your argument makes the presidency so cheap and basic and that’s what makes most nonsensical. I expect the person that occupies that Office to do better and HH has an opportunity to raise the bar. We have seen these tricks since 1969, they aren’t new
ECZ has been very disappointing so far all this could have been avoid if the acted fair; they are trying to appease the appointing authority and that is were the problem begins.
“….give your head a wobble”.
It looks like @Torino-Orange’s head has just been rocked, shaken, to come up with this sensible comment.
The fact is that ECZ is not independent. If it was, it would have cancelled the by-elections in Kabushi and Kwacha on its own following the Conourt’s ruling that Malanji and Lusambo were eligible to recontest their seats but it kept quiet, giving chance to Haimbe and Macdonald Chipenzi to mislead the nation. When one aspiring candidate withdrew from the Kabwata by-election after he had already filed his nomination, Chipenzi was in the forefront supporting the move to cancel the by-election and call for fresh nominations just because this suited UPND. A similar thing has happened in Kwacha and Kabushi, and the same man is saying something else just because it doesn’t favour UPND. This man is a pure UPND cadre. He is not impartial
Disqualification or nulliffication ……..
To be or not to be………….
Is it the English language that is bothering zambias so called brightest brains ?????
After the removal of Esau chirwa and shindano, the ECZ is in shambles. This is the waste ECZ ever!!! Very embarrassing!!! After having a professional, independent ECZ that has seen changes of Govt with free and fare elections, we now have this?!! A partizan, ruling party controlled, etc what a shame.. Very disappointing. The world is really laughing at us. Bring Esau chirwa back!!!
Esau Chulu, (Chairperson) alongside Emilly Sikazwe (VIce Chairperson), were both fired same day first week of June.
Kryticous Nshindano (Chief Electiral Officer) got axed on August 7, 2022.
ECZ to run effectively, it must have five (5) commissioners appointed by the president.
That is how decimated ECZ is today: a headless chicken.
ECZ is in line with the law. It is the con court which is sending the message to the society that you can be corrupt, violent etc. and still be allowed to stand as a candidate. What moral standards is the con court setting. Con court should be dissolved.
Dissolve the con court.
We need an act where individuals who are appointed at ECZ are done by the commission not by government that way ECZ will not find itself in tangled in such issues an act to be totally independent thats my opinion
Don’t blame any one………….
Blame the Zambian constitution that was signed with closed eyes………..
That piece of crap can be interpreted in all manner of ways………….
There are sections that contradict and words that leave it open to any interpretation………….
That constitution has become like the bible and zambia law professional like the many pastors with different interpretations of the same book………..
Each lawyer now reads that constitution like the bible…………..
Just like every pastor has his own version of meanings of each verse of the Bible……..
Same with the Zambian constitution, each lawyer has his own take on the meaning of each section……….
What a piece of shiiyytt……..
Yes dont blame EzZ , ECZ never made any mistake. It acted acted according to the guiding act given to it. the problem is with the concort pfcrtel You can also see that the hh does not influenc the courts but the courts are missleading the nation
I understand the blame being placed on the constitution lacunae. But lacunae or not, there is a constitution that we have and that has be used in it’s current form. It is quite clear that AG, Solicitor General and Justice Minister have a predetermined outcome. Surely con-court and LAZ cannot be so lost? Besides, their interpretations are based on the same references that the pro UPND team are using! The biggest losers are the Zambian people who now have to see the party they trusted a year ago, to right many wrongs resort to applying strange approaches to governance. By the way, if ECZ are as independent as UPND government and praise singers want to think, some firing must appear on the horizon! Firing, not redeployment…?
Upnd cadres are now running ECZ….It will never be an independent institution, in fact these chaps are by far waste then Pf…time will tell…
Ayatollah..
A basket full of oranges is a basket
A basket full of mangoes is still a basket.
It’s only the contents that have changed not the container.
Maybe we need to import a president… after all we are an importing nation.
we going back in circles now but the problem is we have the waste rotten system now which cant stand the grounds but it is remotely controlled.
Atleast am happy that people are now concerned with every act that is done. This time we have many lawyers able to interpret the constitution to masses. It is called democracy. Vina mwamene wayinvelela. Let everyone be heard and given justice. This way, we will be able to fix the so called lacunas in our constitution.
the executive is meddling in the judiciary