By NOEL IYOMBWA
IT is surprising that Mr Steven Nyirenda has gone ahead to pay nomina-tion fee to stand as a President when the matter he took to court has not been resolved, National Restoration Party Lusaka province chair-person Elias Katongo has said.
Mr Katongo said Mr Nyirenda has paid nomination fees and wants to stand as President of the party during the August elections when the matter is still in court.
“He took us to court for telling him to step aside as president of the party because his coming into the party as President was illegal, the party constitution states that a person cannot be appointed president when he has been a member for less than three months.
“As a result he took us to court but we are shocked that he wants to stand without sorting out the issue, “he said.
Mr Katongo said that Mr Nyirenda aspiring to stand is illegal and that the NEC has since written to Electoral Commission of Zambia over the matter.
And party deputy secretary General Martin Mulenga said that the party have never held any convention to elect the president.
Mr Mulenga said unless Mr Nyirenda stands as an independent candi-date, he does not qualify to stand on NAREP ticket.
In August last year expelled NAREP President Stephen Nyirenda sued his Vice Charles Maboshe and six others over his expulsion.
Mr. Nyirenda is seeking a declaration that he was duly elected as the party’s President and asking the court to declare his expulsion null and void.
Mr. Nyirenda who is a prominent Lusaka businessman also sought an order of interim injunction restraining the defendants, or their agents from interfering with the Party’s administration and governance.
