ZAQA FAILS TO VERIFY LUENA MP MALITI CHIMWASO’S GRADE 12 CERTIFICATE
“newly-elected UPND MP may not be sworn in as qualification requirements remain unmet”
The newly-elected UPND Member of Parliament for Luena Constituency, Maliti Chimwaso, risks not taking his seat in Parliament after the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA) reportedly failed to verify his Grade 12 certificate.
The verification exercise for newly-elected MPs is currently underway at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka.
According to a source at the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ), the documents Mr. Chimwaso presented to ZAQA officers during the screening were not validly issued by ECZ.
“Therefore, the new UPND MP for Luena Constituency has not completed his registration process at the National Assembly because of this discovery. It is a mandatory requirement that all new MPs submit ZAQA-verified qualifications. In the case of Mr. Chimwaso, he has not fulfilled this requirement,” the source said.
The source added that presenting questionable documentation to a public officer with the intention of obtaining a personal benefit constitutes a criminal offence liable to prosecution.
It is further alleged that since the screening process began, Mr. Chimwaso has been moving between the National Assembly and ZAQA offices seeking assistance regarding his qualifications. The extent of any engagement with ZAQA leadership could not be confirmed by press time.
The Constitution and the Electoral Process Act require all MPs to possess at least a Grade 12 certificate or its equivalent as verified by ZAQA before they can be sworn in.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr. Chimwaso, ZAQA, and the National Assembly were unsuccessful by press time.
The story is a bit confusing, grade 12 results or certificates are verified by ECZ that’s Examination Council of Zambia and not Zambia Qualifications Authority. And grade 12 results are verified just before the filling in of nomination papers. That includes everyone including the presidential aspirants. If I am not mistaken, ZAQA only deals with tertiary education qualifications. If that anomaly is being discovered now, then things went wrong at the time of nominations. But a Constituency like Luena is not even an issue because it can easily be won by UPND in case of a by election.
By election coming….