Africa-Press – Zambia. 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.
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