We are giving John Sangwa 48 hours to retract his statement de-meaning the eligibility of President Edgar Lungu or he will face legal actions, New Congress Party (NCP) pres- ident Peter Chanda has de- manded.
Pastor Chanda said the disrespect by Mr Sangwa was also demeaning the Constitutional Court judgment which cannot be tolerated.
Mr Sangwa was quoted in some sections of the media as saying that if President Lungu was a democrat he could not had said that he would rule until 2026.
He said President Lungu had been elected into office twice, therefore, he was not eligible to stand in 2021.
He said President Lungu was not eligible to be on the ballot paper in 2021 general elections.
But Pastor Chanda said such statements were criminal because the judgment by the Constitution Court was clear that President Lungu was eligible to stand in 2021.
The opposition leader said if Mr Sangwa did not with- draw his statement against the Head of State he would face legal action to serve a warning to those who were fond off demeaning the laws of the country.
“I want to advice and warn Mr Sangwa that I am giving him 48 hours to retract his statement or else we will commence contempt of court pro- ceedings because judgment was delivered. Freedom of speech does not entail that we need to undermine or destroy institutions that are created by the people.
“In this regard if anyone goes on the forum and be- gins to say the Constitutional Court Judges erred, the Constitutional Court is the final court of appellant in the constitutional matters and seven judges delivered a judgment where they looked at all fac- tors, where they stated de- pending on circumstance were one can be in office for more than 10 years.
“All those issues Mr Sangwa was raising on Prime TV are baseless because the judgment is there, President Lungu’s stay in office from January 2015 to 2016 does not constitute a term of office,” Pastor Chanda said.
