Africa-Press – Zambia. GIVEN Lubinda says he will only step down from his position as PF faction Acting President when the party holds a convention, as stipulated in the PF constitution.
And Lubinda says he is very confident that the court will rule in favour of the party and give back PF to its legitimate owners.
Speaking when he featured on Diamond TV, Sunday, Lubinda said contrary to claims by some PF members, there is no provision in the party constitution which says that an incumbent president must resign if he is re-contesting the position.
“People are saying I must declare interest and therefore do what if I declare interest? Because I already declared interest when I paid the K200, 000 expression of interest. That was declaration of interest. If you can kindly ask those people to give you an example of any political party whose president steps aside because they are re-contesting their position.
The constitution of the Patriotic Front says that the president of the party shall declare themselves dissolved at the national council. The party president actually opens the convention and dissolves himself and hands over to the national chairman so there’s no provision in the constitution that calls for the incumbent president to resign.
I was appointed vice-president by Edgar Chagwa Lungu before his demise. I was appointed in September 2021, just after he handed over instruments of power to President Hakainde; that is when he appointed me vice-president so there’s no dispute about that, that’s very clear,” Lubinda explained.
“It didn’t have to be through a central committee, you’ve just read what it [constitution] says and nowhere in here does it say that the president will appoint a vice-president subject to ratification of the central committee, nowhere, whoever tables that argument is being trivial and being mischievous and economical with the truth.
You have read, there is Article 54, it states [that] upon the demise of the incumbent president, the vice-president assumes the functions of president. So there’s nothing about me usurping any power from any office, it is the constitution of the Patriotic Front.
I’m glad that you are asking these questions because this answers the malice that is being spread around. There is no political party in Zambia or anywhere else which has a provision that the president must resign before the next election”.
Asked whether PF should be considered dead if the upcoming rulings do not go in favour of the party, Lubinda said he was confident that the party would be retained but that the party would use another avenue to prepare for the general elections if the judgement is ruled against them.
“We are very hopeful that the court judgments will go in our favour, we are quite confident and our confidence emanates from the fact that we listened to the arguments in both cases. We listened to the arguments in the main case that was heard here in Lusaka by the high court of Lusaka, where honourable Stephen Kampyongo stood and gave testimony on behalf of the eight members of parliament.
We also listened to the defence that was adduced by one Ng’ona and based on that, we think that in that particular case, the likelihood is that the matter will be judged in our favour.
We also read the submissions in the ex-parte that was granted to Ng’ona and Chabinga in the Kabwe case and in that case too, we are confident that the court will pass ruling in our favour and because of that, we are confident that we’ll get back the Patriotic Front come 9th and 12th of January,” he noted.
“However, in the most unlikely event that the judgment and the ruling go against us, then we’ll have to say goodbye, we’ll have to use another avenue to prepare ourselves for the general elections. Because like you and many citizens have been worrying, we cannot continue to wait, time is not with us anymore.
We can’t continue to wait for the PF to be given back to us. If in this last ditch hope, it doesn’t come our way, then certainly, we have to find another vehicle to use. I’ve said this many times to various journalists and various media houses that the Patriotic Front is not necessarily the paper that President Hakainde has denied us of possession, the Patriotic Front are the members of the party”.
Lubinda highlighted that despite government’s efforts to “destroy the PF”, the party is still standing strong and the structures are still intact.
“Are decisions of the party being followed by the members, if yes, then it means that we have the locus. Are we recognised in Parliament, if no, that doesn’t matter to us because we know that the institutions of governance are the ones that are in the forefront of ensuring that they create problems in the Patriotic Front.
Fortunately for us, after five long years of treachery exerted on us by this executive, we still stand strong, our structures are still intact and members are already campaigning to lead the party. No one would have been campaigning to lead this party had this party been as fragmented as President Hakainde would have wanted it to be. I agree entirely that time now has become of the essence, time is now an imperative and we have to make sure that we push ourselves to holding an elective convention as soon as possible to identify our flag carrier and to renew the mandate of the central committee of the party,” said Lubinda.
“It is our prayer that these two matters that [are] before court are not going to be adjourned unnecessarily. We are hoping that this time, they’ll bring this to finality, that there’ll be closure to this matter. But like I said, time does not allow us to continue to wait so in the event that we don’t get what we are hoping we can get, as I said before, members of the party will have to decide on what other umbrella they can use to prepare for them to redeem the Zambian people.
Because there cannot be any redemption of the Zambian people if the Patriotic Front continues to wallow in this question of whether they are going to get back legality or not”.
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