ConCourt to rule on Shakafuswa poll eligibility
THE Constitutional Court will today decide on whether PF™s Mpulungu Ward 23 councillor Christopher Shakafuswa is eligible to contest the position of Lusaka mayor.
In this case, Mr Shakafuswa and Mr Isaac Mwanza, a law student, have petitioned the court and cited Attorney General Likando Kalaluka and Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) seeking a determination on whether or not a serving ward based councillor ought to resign from their seat if they wished to contest the position of a mayor.
The petitioners also want the court to interpret whether or not a serving councillor who qualifies to contest for the mayoral position ought to vacate his or her office.
The petitioners filed the petition following the death of Lusaka mayor Wilson Kalumba.
During submissions, Attorney General Likando Kalaluka said that ward councillors should be accountable to their electorates without exception and that if Mr Shakafuswa wished to contest the position of mayor for Lusaka, he must resign from his current position.
Mr Kalaluka said Article 156 of the constitution entailed that a councillor must resign his current position to be properly subjected to the electorate for a new mandate.
He said to realise the intended meaning of the legislature with regard to the principle of accountability to the electorate as enshrined in Article 156 of the constitution, an elected ward councillor who wished to be elected as mayor must resign from their position.
Meanwhile, ECZ said it was the discretion of the court to interpret the provisions of the law on whether or not a serving ward based councillor intending to contest the position of mayor ought to resign his or her councilor position.