Democratic Party deregistration upheld

THE Ministry of Home Affairs has upheld the decision by the Registrar of Societies to cancel the registration of the Democratic Party (DP) and has maintained that the party does not exist anymore.

This comes in the wake of the appeal by party president Gift Kalumba and his national secretary Precious Ntambu dated June 18, 2018 to the ministry after the Registrar of Societies cancelled its registration because the party, which was formed in 1991, may not have been paying annual returns.

But Mr Kalumba and Ms Ntambu maintained the move was illegal.They contended that sometime in April this year, Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo extended an olive branch to societies which were not paying their annual returns to reactivate their registration by paying K100 for each year they had not done so. They said the party paid all the money that was required, pushed for the change of office bearers and that it was at the point of issuance of certificate that the process stalled.They said on June 1, 2018, the party received communication from the Registrar of Societies indicating that it ceased to exist and gave it a seven-day ultimatum to show cause why the registration should not be cancelled, to which it replied.

fiGiven the background to the matter as highlighted above INV0249 and the reasons furnished in the letter on June 4, 2018, the party contends that the Chief Registrar did not exercise her discretion to cancel the registration of the party fairly or properly and we accordingly seek your indulgence to quash the decision to de-register the party,fl reads the letter in part.

But in a statement yesterday, Home Affairs public relations officer Nephas Chifuta said the ministry had upheld the decision by the Registrar of Societies to cancel the registration of the party and that Mr. Kampyongo would issue a compressive statement soon. Mr Chifuta warned that since the party did not exist, forthwith, whoever would continue masquerading as a party official would be going against the law. fiThe Ministry of Home Affairs hereby notifies the public that the Minister of Home Affairs Mr Stephen Kampyongo, has upheld the decision of the Chief Registrar of Societies to cancel the registration of the Democratic Party.

fiThe Democratic Party does not therefore exist forthwith. Anyone purporting to be an official or member of the said Democratic Party would be in breach of the law and would be dealt with in accordance with the law. The Minister of Home Affairs shall issue a comprehensive statement on this matter in due course,fl Mr Chifuta said.