CONCOURT RULING IS FINAL

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 10:08:49 +0000

By Chikumbi Katebe

IT is a serious misapprehension of the law to suggest that there is an appeal against the decision by the Constitutional Court to dismiss the 2016 presidential election petition, said Lusaka lawyer Hobday Kabwe.

Mr Kabwe said it was mere figment of imagination suggest that there was a presidential petition before the courts which had the potential to nullify President Edgar Lungu’s election as the winner of the 2016 general election.

He said the Constitutional Court was the highest court in Zambia and there was no legal action that could overturn their decision.

He said it would be criminal to suggest that there was no Head of State, which could just be an instance for the promotion of lawlessness that would not be without consequences.

 “This is a serious apprehension of the law and it is not something that can be looked at reasonably by any Zambian.

“This is just a mere figment of imagination that there is no head of state. Pronouncement was made by the Electoral Commission of Zambia who they had declared as winner under the various articles in the electoral act, and after that it permits for people to appeal and when they appeal the decision of the Constitutional Court becomes final,” he said.

He said it was not acceptable to suggest there was no president in Zambia when the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, already discharged the presidential petition.

He said any litigation had a sense of endless, where cases should be concluded within the shortest possible time, despite the direction of the decision of the court, for or against.

He charged that whatever the dissatisfaction arising from the decision, it was sheer misapprehension of the position of the court, and there was no recourse to that.