WYNTER Kabimba says while the Rainbow Party respects the judgment of the Constitutional Court on the eligibility of President Edgar Lungu, it does not agree with it.
Kabimba, the Rainbow Party general secretary, notes that the eligibility case of President Lungu is an academic issue and not a political one.
Last week, constitutional lawyer John Sangwa insisted that President Lungu does not qualify to stand for a third time in 2021.
Reminded that other stakeholders felt President Lungu was ineligible to contest next year’s general elections, PF secretary general Davies Mwila engaged into acerbity against Sangwa.
He said the Constitutional Court made a ruling on the matter, unless one was unaware.
“There was a debate which was going on and these others were saying President Lungu is eligible [while] others were saying he is not eligible. The matter was in court and the Constitutional Court ruled that President Lungu is eligible, unless lawyer Sangwa is a dull lawyer who can’t think, who can’t read the judgment. Even me as a layman I’m able to understand,” Mwila told journalists at the PF secretariat in Lusaka on Monday.
“The issue which was there is the term of office and the Constitution; if you’ve not served for more than three years, it’s not a term. The Constitutional Court ruled that President Lungu served for less than three years. So, it was not a term. So, he is eligible to stand.”
He added that Sangwa, who argues that President Lungu is ineligible, should not be political.
“We’ll take him as a political opponent. These are politics! As far as we are concerned, President Edgar Lungu is eligible to stand and lawyer Sangwa has the right to take the matter to court. Why is it that he has failed to go to court?” asked Mwila.
“A ruling was made by the Constitutional Court and he (Sangwa) can’t start this matter which he knows that there is a judgment in place. So, if he wants he can go to court again. As far as we are concerned, President Lungu [in] 2021 will be on the ballot paper.”
Asked for his opinion on President Lungu’s 2021 eligibility case, Kabimba, a lawyer of three decades, gave a historical perspective to the matter.
He recalled that when the eligibility issue emerged somewhere in 2017, “I wrote a letter on behalf of the Rainbow Party to the secretary of PF, saying that our review and perusal of the 2016 Constitution amendment Act No. 2 does not make President Lungu eligible to stand in 2021.”
“I went on to analyse why we understood the Constitution from that perspective. Then you had that petition that was taken before the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Court, in its own infinite wisdom, pronounced itself on the matter and said President Lungu is eligible to stand in 2021,” Kabimba said in an interview in Lusaka.
He explained that in a democratic country where there were institutions like the judiciary, the executive and the legislature, and the judiciary pronounces itself on a matter, “wrongly or rightly from your understanding, that matter had been put to rest.”
“So, we took a position and we still maintain that position that President Lungu is not eligible. But we also respect the judgment of the Constitutional Court, even as we may not agree with it,” Kabimba said.
“We respect the judgment of the Constitutional Court but we don’t agree with it – we disagreed before the judgment by way of writing a letter and we still don’t agree even after the Constitutional Court pronounced itself. I’m sure academics will write in future on this matter.”
He spoke against people resorting to spite each time they disagree on an issue.
Kabimba noted that the eligibility case was no longer subjudice and therefore debate around it could not amount to contempt of court.
“You can’t start calling people names because they disagree with the judgment of the court. That is what democracy is. Look at the impeachment of President [Donald] Trump! Up to today, the Americans are still divided,” he said.
“There are some that still believe that the Senate was wrong in its handling of that matter and there are others that believe that this matter has been put to rest – the Senate has pronounced itself. So, to read headlines like the one I have seen from the PF secretary general that John Sangwa is a dull lawyer, it’s not fair.”
Kabimba added that the fact that one did not agree with Sangwa does not make John Sangwa a dull person.
“Even Edgar Lungu knows that lawyer John Sangwa is not a dull lawyer. This (the eligibility case) is an academic issue and not a political one and the PF secretary general is below John, in terms of academic knowledge,” Kabimba said.
“Let’s learn to respect one another’s views. John is by far more educated than the secretary general of PF. John Sangwa has taught law, he has practiced law, he is State Counsel; he is a respectable and respected legal practitioner and academic in our country.”
Kabimba further wondered why those who disagreed with Sangwa’s view on President Lungu’s eligibility have to line up so many people against him.
“If you are going to do that, present an argument. But name-calling is not an argument, vilifying one another is not an argument, insulting one another is not an argument,” noted Kabimba.
“John is expressing a view and in a democracy he is entitled to that expression of a view. Some people may agree with him [while] some people may not agree with him. If we are going to build a democracy, it must start with tolerance of one another’s ideas. There are old democracies and we can’t re-invent the wheel on democracy.”