ConCourt allows NGO to amend petition
THE Constitutional Court has granted Chapter One Foundation leave to amend its petition alleging that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), breached the Constitution by restricting voter registration to only 30 days.
Chapter One Foundation also wants the court to make an order mandating the State to implement the mobile issuance of National Registration Cards (NRC) throughout the country.
The organisation through its chairperson, Mr Cleophas Lungu cited the Attorney General Likando Kalaluka and ECZ as respondents in the matter.
In its application for amendment of the petition, lawyer Linda Kasonde contended that the purpose of the amendment is to bring all the issues that are pertinent to the case before the court and that no prejudice would be suffered by the parties.
But ECZ secretary and legal counsel Bob Musenga argued that the application to amend the petition was irregular as the commission would suffer prejudice.
But in his ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Enock Mulembe said ECZ has not demonstrated how, if at all it would suffer prejudice if the application is granted as prayed while the Attorney General did not object to the application.
"I find the application has merit. Leave to amend the petition is accordingly granted as prayed," he ruled.
He also ordered that Chapter One Foundation files and serves its amended petition on or before October 5, 2020.
Its petition follows an announcement by the chief electoral officer at a press briefing on June 12 this year, that the period for the voter registration had been reduced to 30 days.
According to the petition, Chapter One Foundation argued that Government violated the Constitution by implementing the issuance of NRCs in a manner that contravenes the Constitution.
Chapter One Foundation argued that government has been implementing the issuance of NRCs to citizens pursuant to the national registration act chapter 126 of the laws of Zambia.
It stated that the registration of citizens in accordance with the National Registration Act chapter 126 of the laws of Zambia has been accelerated by the policy of mobile registration in various parts of the country.
The petitioner however, alleged that Government whether willingly or unwillingly has not rolled the mobile registration in all parts of the country and that the registration services are not uniformly available to all citizens.
It argued that following the 2016 Constitutional amendment, the electoral process act was amended to provide for continuous voter registration to be carried out by ECZ.
The petitioner argued that by taking actions not provided for in the Constitution ECZ has willfully or in ignorance of the law acted outside perimeters of Constitutional limits.