By NATION REPORTER
THE Constitutional Court judgement that has declared Lusambo and Malanji as being eligible to recontest their Kabushi and Kwacha seats respectively has not just embarrassed the UPND administration but has also vindicated the Socialist Party for backing the candidates for the Patriotic Front (PF) who were unjustly barred by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Frank Bwalya has said.
Mr Bwalya, the Socialist Party spokesperson said the UPND should apologise for insulting the collective intelligence of Zambians in the manner they conducted themselves over Kabushi and Kwacha by-elections.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4,5,6″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
He said Zambians advised the UPND against the temptation of manipulating the ECZ and courts by allowing the rule of law to prevail over the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections but that the ruling party decided to ignore the law with impunity.
“We should be worried as Zambians because the UPND have shown clearly that they do not respect the law and they are so desperate to gain numbers in parliament to an extent of scarifying the rule of law at the altar of political expediency,” Mr Bwalya said.
Mr Bwalya said the Socialist Party knew that the celebration of the UPND would be short lived because the by-elections in Kwacha and Kabushi were not just stolen from Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji but were also illegal.
He said the behaviour of the UPND in that by-elections would not only make Zambians lose confidence in the ECZ, but also make the country lose a lot of money as the law demanded that there should another by-election in the two constituencies.
Mr Bwalya said UPND was in a hurry to show that they had become popular on the Copperbelt to an extent that they went ahead to disenfranchise Bowman Lusambo and Joe Malanji by blocking them from standing.
He said the biggest fear was that the UPND had given senior positions to known party carders at ECZ and that there was a danger that what happened in Kabushi and Kwacha constituencies would become the order of the day in the by-elections in future.
Mr Bwalya said as leaders from other countries come for the Summit for Democracy, they should be made aware that President Hakainde Hichilema does not respect democracy and the rule of law.
[/ihc-hide-content]
