LUNGU ELIGIBLE TO STAND – AG
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu is eligible to contest the 2021 election as the one year he served after taking over from late president Michael Sata cannot be counted as a full term, Attorney General, Likando Kalaluka yesterday told the Constitutional Court.
And another lawyer Bonaventure Mutale said any term less than three years is not considered as a full term.
But the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), John Sangwa said President Lungu was not eligible to contest as he had already held office twice.
This is in a matter where Danny Pule of Christian Democratic Party, Zambia Republican Party leader Wright Musoma, Peter Chanda of the New Congress Party, and Citizen Democratic Party leader Robert Mwanza have petitioned the Constitutional Court over President Lungu’s eligibility.
Before the Constitutional Court full Bench, Mr Kalaluka argued that the new constitution did not envisage circumstances that arose when president Lungu assumed office.
Mr Kalaluka urged the court to find that the exclusion of President Lungu in Article 106(5) amounts to discrimination.
And applicants through their lawyers Bonaventure Mutale and Mulingo Lungu have argued that President Lungu’s first term should be regarded as an inherited term.
Mr Lungu said President Lungu only served from January 2015 to September 2016 and in accordance with the current amended constitution a person should serve for at least three years for it to be counted as a term.
He said the inherited term should not count because President Lungu did not ascend to power in the circumstance prescribed in the amended Constitution. “The issue before court is whether the inherited term should be treated in accordance with the new regime or old regime. Our submission is that it should be treated in accordance with the new regime,
“In the amended constitution, any term less than three years is not considered as a full term. The task before this court is to evince the intention of Parliament and give effect to it. An inherited term is an inherited term and under the new constitution it does not count as a bar to eligibility,” Mr Lungu said.
Mr Kalaluka said the matter had generated a lot of public debate, and hoped the court would handle it expeditiously and fairly. Meanwhile, LAZ through lawyer John Sangwa maintained that President Lungu was not eligible to contest as he had already held office twice and did not assume office through vice presidency.
He contended that the suggestion that the first term should not be counted had no basis.
Mr Sangwa further argued that the applicants had not demonstrated their standing in the matter.