Thursday, March 28, 2024

Kwacha and Kabushi by election challenged in court

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The Constitutionality of the elections held in Kwacha and Kabushi Constituency has been challenged in the Constitutional Court.

The Institute of Law, Policy Research and Human Rights, Green Party President Peter Sinkamba and Governance Activist Isaac Mwanza have today petitioned the Constitutional Court to declare the election held on 21st October, 2022 in Kwacha and Kabushi as unconstitutional, illegal and null and void.

In a petition filed on Tuesday, the parties have said the Statutory Instrument signed by the three Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Zambia that prescribed the date of election was unconstitutional and illegal.

The petitioners also argued that the decision to include candidates who had resigned on the ballot after the Constitutional Court had 20th October 2022 determined that the proceedings from which the High Court made an order stay election had lapsed contravened the Constitution and is illegal.

The petitioners have also asked the Constitutional Court to maintain its previous decision in which the Court stated that a resignation under the Constitution cannot be rescinded In the absence or a decision to rescind a resignation.

23 COMMENTS

  1. ABUSING THE COURT SYSTEM. SAME MENTALITY THE 2 MPs HAD; THINKING THE PF CONCOURT WILL RULE IN THEIR FAVOR.

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  2. Ati “a resignation under the constitution cannot be rescinded in the absence of a decision to rescind a resignation”
    What the hell are you saying you chaps? Are those your grounds for suing? Lol, even if i m not a lawyer, i can teach some of these lawyers with natural wisdom

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    • One can not resign and then get reinstated so casually. ECZ revokes validity of all other contestants to start the process all over again.

      This basically means:
      A RESIGNATION CAN NEVER BE RESCINDED AT ANY GIVEN INSTANCE OR FOR WHATEVER REASON.

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  3. It is in fact the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General who abused the court system. That abuse must be challenged too. I doubt whether some here are following events or they are pretending by looking the other way.

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  4. As we said days ago, you cannot force your ugly self on people that don’t want you. We all know upnd cannot and will never win those seats in a free and fair election. Remember that if you are undesired by the people , nature has a way of getting rid of you. For example some die of natural causes.

    Anonymous member

    Pf in the UK

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  5. kkkkk very embarrasing from what is happening in the courts and the ECZ.Do these guys know that we are laughing stock from the outside world that we have people who can not even interpret their consititution,what a shame.No wonder one state council said we have incompetent lawyers at the concourt.

  6. Simple logic…. these two guys were picked by the ACC and obviously threatened with imprisonment.
    If the right thing is not done these two constituencies may end this term without representation. It would be a shame if it came to that.

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  7. There was a hidden hand in all this. Things just don’t happen like that. It was planned but it failed so it had to be forced and that push has exposed a lot of inconsistencies. People who scheme usually forget to take care of all details. While these institutions can be manipulated, masses can’t and they’ll have their last say in all this. While they think they’re clever, we’re just wondering what kind of people they are

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  8. If those election allowed then HH will be a ruthless dictator and no one will stop him.A dictator should be stopped when he shows signs

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  9. Kapya Kaoma said it! The sham elections will be nullified and HH will be forced to swallow his pride. Copperbelt is the engine of Zambian democracy.

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    • nullified by whom? all courts with the exception of the High Court were compromised, High Court was ready to give judgment, the state stopped that case by wrongly applying at court of appeals (which has no jurisdiction to hear election matters). The court of appeals sat on the case waiting for the 90 days. The concourt gave two rulings trying to force the elections, heck, their first ruling was being interpreted differently and they went on to give another judgment the day before the election expressly allowing the election.
      And the State’s tactics were clear to see, they even forced a nationwide training for their advocates just so they could avoid being in court. and interestingly, that letter was not signed by the Supreme Court Justice, who probably refused to be a party to this.

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  10. Seeing as the concourt allowed this election to go on, I can foresee how this judgment will be. Otherwise, the judgment will expose the concourt’s mediocre judgment. They did state in 2021 that a councillor cannot rescind his decision to withdraw because there is no law that allows one to do so. This extends to all elected public office holders. ECZ should have cancelled the elections and called for fresh nominations as is the law and they have previously done so when candidates withdrew with the latest case being that of Kabwata by elections. Very interested to see how the concourt handles this matter, the petitioners know the outcome but have an ulterior motive which I support.

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  11. Following very closely. The AG petitioned the stay of the elections by the high court in a court that had no jurisdiction over the matter. The said court, the court of appeal, knowing too well that it did not have jurisdiction over the matter went ahead and stayed the impending judgement from the high court and ruled that the 21days count, time, had been suspended. The concourt when asked to rule and compel ECZ to cancel elections then ruled that there was nothing to suspend/cancel as the High court’s stay was still in place. At this point the concourt knew that that stay was in fact stayed by a court that had no jurisdiction. Then a day before elections the concourt which had all along known that the stay that stayed the judgement in the high court was illegal then ruled that the 21days…

    • Tell me about it. And I think now the Concourt will make a ruling to the effect that the stay in the High Court put a stop to all things related to the election. But interestingly, the two candidates had withdrawn prior to the stay, at that point, ECZ should have called for fresh nominations (silly law if you ask me). The concourt may rule that a consitutional provision superceeds everything else and so they needed to conduct the elections, disregarding the same constitutional provision of cancelling an election. Also interested to see how rescinding was allowed when they rules last year that its not possible.

  12. The laws are weak and vague that is why they can be taken advantage of. Not to mention, many lawmakers are only being required to have an education now.

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