Nevers Mumba not MMD president

…no court ruling has reinstated him

NEVERS Mumba is still not MMD president because no court of law in Zambia has determined whether or not he was properly removed from office as MMD president, says national secretary Raphael Nakacinda.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Nakacinda said the Supreme Court, which sat in Kabwe yesterday, only found that the constitutional issues surrounding the legality of the May 2016 national convention, which kicked Dr. Mumba out of the MMD presidency, were wrongly before it.

Prior to the convention, which ushered in the Felix Mutati led executive, Dr. Mumba attempted to block the holding of the convention by way of a court injunction, but the Lusaka High Court dismissed his application for the injunction.

He then appealed to the Supreme Court on grounds that he was not given a chance to be heard and by the time the Supreme Court was referring the matter back to the High Court, the convention had already taken place and new office bearers had been ushered in.

When the matter was sent back to the High Court before Judge Mwiinde Siavwapa, the Mutati led executive argued that Dr. Mumba’s complaints were constitutional issues that must be heard by the Constitutional Court but the judge ruled that he could still hear Dr. Mumba’s complaints, which were that the convention was illegal because its conveners had already been expelled from the party.

But the Mutati led executive further appealed to the Court of Appeal against Judge Siavwapa’s ruling and the Court of Appeal agreed with the Mutati led executive that the issues raised were constitutional but the court could not transfer the case to the Constitutional Court.

This prompted them to apply to the Supreme Court to give procedural guidance and at yesterday’s sitting in Kabwe, the court said it was up to the parties to take the matter to the Constitutional Court or not.