Parley impeachment hearing wrong
IT will be unfair for the Speaker of the National Assembly to entertain the impeachment motion against President Lungu because some grounds on which it is anchored are still in court, a concerned citizen has observed.
In an interview in Lusaka, Celestine Mukandila, who contested adoption as Patriotic Front (PF) Matero parliamentary candidate, said the Constitutional Court had not yet ruled on his 2016 petition in which he requested the court to interpret whether President Lungu should have ceded power to the Speaker during the UPND’s petition against President Lungu’s victory.
“During the election petition I petitioned the Constitutional Court, requesting it to interpret provisions of the Constitution on whether the President should cede power to the Speaker. The matter is still in court and the court is yet to rule on the matter.
“In as far as it is their democratic right to impeach the President, as a Zambian citizen who is entitled to defend and protect the republican Constitution, I shall not allow any individual to defy procedures and processes of good governance in this country. One of the grounds the UPND has raised is that President Lungu ought to have ceded power to the Speaker of the National Assembly but this matter is still active in court,” Mr. Mukandila said.
He said entertaining the impeachment motion would mean drifting away from the tenets of the rule of law, democracy, and separation of powers.
“As a person who is a patriotic citizen I will use all avenues to ensure that the Speaker or the National Assembly does not misdirect itself. I will be instructing my lawyers soon to file an injunction to restrain the leader of the opposition and the Speaker from entertaining that motion in Parliament because it will vilify processes of democracy and good governance.
“Personally I will not support anyone to abuse court processes. I know that the UPND and their associates are trying to arm twist the Speaker by trying to ensure that their election petition is now heard in Parliament. I don’t think this is something that can happen in a country that has to respect the rule of law and tenets of good governance,” Mr. Mukandila said.