The governing United Party for National Development (UPND) on the Copperbelt has received with mixed feelings the Constitutional Court‘s decision to uphold the election of Allen Banda as Patriotic Front Chimwemwe Member of Parliament in Kitwe.
The Constitutional Court on Monday upheld the election of Allen Banda as Member of Parliament for Chimwemwe Constituency.
UPND Copperbelt Provincial Information and Publicity Secretary Timothy Mfula has said the ruling party respects the court’s ruling.
Mr. Mfula, however, said the UPND is saddened with the Court’s ruling on the matter.
Mr. Mfula has since urged UPND members to continue supporting the party despite the outcome of the petition for the Chimwemwe Seat.
“We respect the verdict because it has come from a legally constituted body which is the constitutional court and the highest court in the land,” Mr. Mfula said.
The constitutional court has said there was mismanagement of results by the Electoral Commission of Zambia that is good enough to nullify the elections.
“But we also have our misgivings. For a start out of the six polling stations we recovered 720 votes and the other 35 polling stations they could not avail us of the Gen 20 forms which would have given us a clear picture of how we had performed,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement after being declared winner, Mr. Banda expressed happiness that justice and the will of the people of Chimwemwe had prevailed.
Mr. Banda said it was good that the case was finally over and cleared of the allegations of electoral malpractice raised by the Chimwemwe losing Candidate Bornwell Matanda in the August, 2021 General elections.
He added that it was now time to start working and address the challenges people in the constituency were faced with.
“Patriotic Front (PF) Chimwemwe Member of Parliament Allen Banda has charged that the upholding of his election by the Constitutional Court has cleared the allegations of electoral malpractice raised by the Chimwemwe losing United Party for National Development (UPND) Candidate Bornwell Matanda in the August, 2021 General elections. This follows the decision by the Constitutional Court to dismiss the Ndola High Court ruling it made on 22 nd November, 2021, that the election of Mr. Banda was null and void due to what it termed non compliance with the provision of the Electoral Process Act relating to the conduct of elections which came as a result of the Electoral Commissioner of Zambia (ECZ) failure to have sufficient Gen-20 forms to distribute to all polling agents,” read a statement from Mr. Banda’s media team.
“Mr. Banda says the court process was a drawback as it hindered him from performing his parliamentarian duties to the people of Chimwemwe and the nation at large as promised during campaigns. He said now that the matter has been settled by the ConCourt, it is time to hit the ground and deliver to the people of Chimwemwe who entrusted him with the mandate to fully represent them in parliament. Mr. Banda said the upholding of his election by the ConCourt is a mass victory for the people of Chimwemwe Constituency who turned up in numbers in the August 2021, General Elections to choose development over poverty and unemployment. He has since hailed the Constitutional Court for upholding the tenets of democracy and the rule of law which inspires hope for an independent judicial system in Zambia,” the statement added.
“The Chimwemwe law-maker has thanked God for being his strength. He has further thanked the Patriotic Front, the people of Chimwemwe, the church and his supporters from all walks of life for standing with him during the legal battles. Mr. Banda has also expressed glowing gratitude to his legal team led by a prominent Lusaka Lawyer Chifumu Banda SC and his associates for putting up a spirited fight that has seen him return the seat. says he will soon be meeting stakeholders and councilors in his constituency to chart the way-forward on various pending developmental projects that stalled as a result of the court case and the subsequent ruling by the speaker of the National Assembly that all MPs who seats where nullified should not participate in parliament proceedings despite having appealed the nullification. God Bless the People of Chimwemwe.”
The vocals never talked about the malpractices in certain areas including the murder of a PF cadre in Solwezi. All the focus is on how to eliminate the PF. Once the Upnd becomes uncontrollably big is when people will realize what a monster they will have created.
Go mix your feelings with HHs mabisi poopoo and swallow it
wenyo
@Kaiza, that’s too much man, you can do better than Bowman.
There’s a mayoral by election and already there is rumor fuel price has been reduced?
That is the language upnd thugs understand
LT, is this not a good idea to put the show the results in in how the different parties performed in the said elections so that your readers can appreciate this news item?