By Patricia Mbewe
A consortium of Civil Society Organizations is concerned with the attacks on constitutional lawyer, John Sangwa by some patriotic front members and sympathizers for expressing his opinions on President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility to contest the 2021 election.
Mr. Sangwa has come under fire from the ruling party after he recently said that president lungu is not eligible to contest the 2021 election because he has served his two terms of office despite the constitutional court ruling that the head of state is eligible.
The CSOS which include Chapter One Foundation, ActionAid Zambia, Alliance for Community Action, Caritas Zambia, CISCA, Centre for Trade Policy and Development and NGOCC say the issue of understanding who is eligible to stand for election as president and how long a president can remain in office is a subject that is integral to the fabric of Zambia’s governance and democracy.
In a joint statement, the csos argue that Article 2 of the Constitution of Zambia recognizes the right of every person to defend the constitution and places a duty on anyone that feels the constitution is being overthrown, suspended or illegally abrogated to defend the constitution.
They say attacks on Mr. Sangwa are characteristic of the shrinking civic space in Zambia and that attacks on people discussing important governance topics such as the constitution should be discouraged in the country’s growing democracy as democracy thrives when the marketplace of ideas is allowed to flourish.
They have since encouraged all stakeholders to be open to hearing opposing opinions as this builds a culture of dialogue rather than conflict.
PHOENIX NEWS