LET SANITY PREVAIL

THERE is nothing strange about the surprise decision made by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Nelly Mutti to declare the Petauke Central parliamentary seat vacant.
Ms Mutti has done so, thus ignoring a petition in the Constitutional Court challenging her decision to declare vacant the Petauke seat and proceeded to notify the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to hold the by-election within the next 90 days.
Speaker Mutti declared the Petauke Central seat which is being held by Mr Emmanuel Jay Banda, an independent, vacant despite her decision having been challenged in the courts of law.
Speaker Mutti has since officially notified the ECZ that she has declared the Petauke Central seat vacant and that a by-election should therefore be held within the next 90- days.
The Speaker’s decision, in our view should have waited for the courts to rule on the petition that was filed.
From what we know, on Wednesday, governance activist, Isaac Mwanza filed a petition in the Constitutional Court, contesting that the National Assembly had no authority to declare Mr Banda’s seat vacant.
Mr Mwanza’s petition, which cited the National Assembly and the Attorney General as respondents is seeking a declaration that a parliamentary seat only becomes vacant upon the High Court’s determination.
And in an interview yesterday, Mr Mwanza expressed shock that the Speaker could proceed to notify the ECZ of a vacancy in Petauke Central when she had been sued over her illegal decision.
Mr Mwanza maintains that Speaker Mutti had no authority to declare a seat parliamentary seat vacant as her role was limited to informing the ECZ of the vacancy.
“Yes, we are aware that Speaker Mutti has notified the ECZ of a vacancy in Petauke Central. There is total disregard of the courts because we delivered the petition to the National Assembly and they acknowledged receipt.
There is just brazen disregard of the rule of law under this government. We hope to join ECZ and also get a conservatory order,” Mr Mwanza said.
Sadly, this appears to be the trend since the United Party for National Development (UPND) with its mantra of respecting “the rule of law” took over the reins of government after the August 2021 general elections.
Since then, the UPND government has never been shy to ride roughshod over legal impediments to grab as many parliamentary seats as it could manouvre.
This is how the party was able to grab the Kwacha and Kabushi parliamentary seats then held by the Patriotic Front even when the courts ruled otherwise.
The compromised Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has been implicit in this evil scheme of things and managed the electoral process for the two constituencies to deliver the seats for the UPND.
The trend has not changed.
Already, Mr Brown Kasaro, the ECZ Chief Electoral Officer has confirmed having received the notification of a vacancy in Petauke Central from Speaker Mutti.
With this notification, the ECZ is most likely to go ahead with organising the by-election – just as it is doing for the Kawambwa parliamentary seat amidst a petition in the courts.
This is the stage that the country has reached, in which institutions that are supposed to be independent pander to the whims of the Executive and ignore the provisions of the constitution to entrench its control.
Will sanity ever prevail or “imingalato?”