By RUTH YAMBYAMBA
VICE-PRESIDENT Mutale Nalumango has set the tone on the imminent Kabushi and Kwacha constituencies’ by-elections claiming that it would be prejudicial to debate the judgement of the Constitutional Court that has ruled that Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji were eligible to re-contest their seats.
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The Constitutional Court has declared that Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji should never have been barred by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) because their nullification of their seats did not mean they had been disqualified and should therefore have been barred.
According Mrs Nalumango, who is Leader of Government Business in the House, the Kabushi and Kwacha by-elections were still active in the courts of law but as of yesterday, Mr Lusambo had announced that he was going to petition the election of his successor, Benard Kanengo whom he has accused of having been fraudulently elected.
Mrs Nalumango said, it is important to allow the court process to be completely exhausted and advised Members of Parliament to desist from making comments on the matter.
Mrs Nalumango was responding to Nalolo Member of Parliament Imanga Wamunyima during the Vice-President question time in Parliament yesterday, who wanted to know whether the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) did not breach the constitution by barring Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji from re-contesting their seats.
Mr Wamunyima said it was wrong for the ECZ to bar people who were eligible to contest in the by-elections and that ‘chickens had come home to roost’ with the Constitutional Court judgement that has now annulled the decision by the ECZ to bar Mr Lusambo and Mr Malanji.
But Ms Nalumango said, she was not in the right position to discuss the matter because the court process on the matter is active.
“I would have responded in a certain way madam including the separation of powers but I am told the issue is still in court. There is a challenge to that,” she said.
The Constitutional Court in its majority judgement on Wednesday ruled that former Kabushi MP Bowman Lusambo and former Kwacha MP Joseph Malanji were eligible to contest the by-elections.
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