Acting President of the Patriotic Front Given Lubinda has question the prudence of Republican President Hakainde Hichilema to President Hichilema to go and campaign for five days in Kwacha and Kabushi when he knew that the matter was before the court.
Speaking after the decision by the High Court to grant Hon. Bowman Chilosha Lusambo and Hon Joseph Malanji, a stay for the Kabushi and Kwacha by-elections not to proceed on Thursday, Mr Lubinda said that the decision by the High Court will definitely cut short President Hichilema’s five day working visit on the Copperbelt which he has used to campaign for his candidates in the two Constituencies.
Mr Lubinda commended his party members for standing by the decision to maintain the duo despite various statements from some named civil Society Organisations and government officials that the party must find other candidates, adding that never shall any dictator decide on which candidate must be fielded on the ballot papers by opposition political parties.
“Hakainde Hichilema did not want us to have Malanji and Lusambo on the ballot papers, but we have shown him that using the law of the land, he can not do it,” he said.
Mr Lubinda also castigated the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for quickly Printing ballot papers without the involvement of stakeholders. He has since advised the ECZ against being used by a political hand.
“The money ECZ used to print ballot papers is taxpayers’ money. What gave you the speed to go ahead and print ballot papers without stakeholders being involved? President Hakainde you have been telling the entire world that you are going to be governed by the rule of law. Rule of law also entails that the ECZ must be autonomous,” he said adding that Zambians will turn up in numbers to show that they do not want a dictator.
Mr Lubinda also heaped praise on the Judiciary for not bowing to pressure from the executive arm of Government.
“There is no doubt in my mind that there were putting pressure on you. The evidence was seen when the Minister of Justice, came to court and sat as if he was an official of the court. ….As Minister of Justice, you superintend on the justice of everybody. On that day, the Minister of Justice decided to go against the rights of Lusambo and Malanji by sending a Minister to go and sit together with the attorney Generals Chambers. He has no power to do that,” he said.
“We are happy that we still have some judges who hold their oath of office as an important oath. We will always respect the Judiciary unlike what Mr Hakainde Hichilema used to do,” he said
Meanwhile, there has been no official word from the ECZ on the next course of action on the upcoming Kwacha and Kabushi by elections. Reports have surfaced alleging that the ECZ staff held a meeting to go ahead with the elections tomorrow.
According to Radio Icengelo, the Commission held a briefing with the media, election agents and police ahead of the Kabushi parliamentary by-election yesterday explaining how the process would be done despite candidates from both Kabushi and Kwacha withdrawing.
Kabushi Constituency returning Officer Elias Mwalaba facilitated the briefing held at Ndola Primary School and Copperbelt Provincial Electoral Officer McClaude Nyirenda was also in attendance.
Every one can claim to be on firm ground with their interpretation of this constitution………….
A constitution signed with eyes closed by lungu……………
It is not worth the paper it is written on……
It is becoming clear now that everything lungu signed is questionable , especially this constitution……….
State counsel Sangwa warned that the current con-court judges were ill qualified to handle the complexities of a supreme law of the land.You need judges that a well vested and grounded in jurisprudence.Poeple with understanding of law at the philosophical level.Now we have made simple lawyers seem like geniouses just by swimming in a murky sea of lacunae.A lacuna simply means you are thriving in a space without law,and thats not a place to be proud of.I am tempted to think that all this chaos is just democracy at play.But that is simply what it is :CHAOS
MuZambian no disrespect just explain to me what you mean by all this chaos is democracy at play. Is this good for democracy? Are you pro democracy?
Hakainde Hichilema has scored another point. It’s clear now the the judiciary is working indipendently unlike what we have been used to previously. Zambian politics has really changed. Kudos HH
i think You need to change your name from Nash to Nyash because your reasoning is pupuish…Nothing like independence.just admit your people where wrong…hahahahahahahahahah
Praise singers would find a way to spin this. With the exception of McDonald Chipenzi who seems hurt and angry and has petitioned the ConCourt to rule on the difference between resign and withdraw, unbelievable.
If the judiciary is really independent the president wouldn’t have gone to campeny before hearing the out came of the court, for me thats is intimidation at it highest, the waste part is tax payers in form of allowances paid to the entourage
What independence? You forget that he had instructed the same court to nullify Malanji’s election in spite that the high court had wrongly nullified this election. You are always changing goal posts to justify your nonsense.
Am starting to believe that leadership is a tribal gift. Because how an entire president can go campaigning without knowing the likely outcome of the High Court judgment is beyond me.
How does that become tribal?
GRZ part of incoherent of UPND and PF
Who suffers? taxpayers. We have a new dawn Administration because of the incoherence of PF.
GRZ you need a political party that’s going to set you apart, distinguish you from Political parties. GRZ you are there for a special purpose and your time bound.
What independence? You forget that he had instructed the same court to nullify Malanji’s election in spite that the high court had wrongly nullified this election. You are always changing goal posts to justify your nonsense.
#4 Gatsby. Sources have it that he had instructed the ECZ to go ahead in contempt of Concourt ruling. He was going to protect them, he had assured them.
If Malanji and Bowman appear on the next ballot paper expect them to be arrested and denied bail. I had mentioned what is happening right now but Spaka thought I was just hallucinating.
Why should you worry about what that tribalist thinks? You’re elevating his petty primitive squabbling to civilised debate and therefore bestowing on him a self importance he doesn’t deserve
PF PF PF, always full of creative wrong ideas, you just plant independents in Kabushi and Kwacha for them to withdraw and trigger fresh nominations, well calculated, achieved the desired results for you, but I wish you were this creative to build our economy which unfortunately you grounded to its knees
kkkkkkkk kkk kkk kkk chiwamina galu kuluma mbuzi
UPND are coming out naked for the youth to clearly see. All the same, democracy is here to stay. Chiluba gave us houses Ndani uyu demolished more than 300 kasompe houses.
Who is Lubinda to question HH’s prudence?
Is HH breaking the law? No he is not
Has he got a right to do what he is doing? Yes he has.
If Lubinda wants to go out and campaign for his party or any other party, he has the right to do so and won’t be denied.
I know that HH is a highly intelligent and articulate gentleman, The jury is out on Lubinda