EASY WAY TO COUNT LUNGU’S TWO TERMS, IN SIMPLE TERMS
Here’s the concept ;
TERM ONE
1: Lungu was elected and sworn in as President in January 2015.
2: The Constitution of 1996 was effective in January 2015.
3: Under the 1996 Constitution, even serving just 1 day as President counted as a full term.
So, Lungu served a full term of office between 2015 and 2016 when the new constitution was enacted.
TERM TWO
1: Lungu was elected and sworn in for a second term in August 2016, he has now served a full second term.
So the questions are ;
1 : Has Lungu twice been elected President?
The answer is yes.
2: Has Lungu twice been sworn in as President?
The answer is yes.
3: Has Lungu served two full terms as President?
The answer is yes!
He served his first full term between 2015 and 2016 under the rules of the old constitution that was in place at that time, where even one day in office counted as a full term.
He’s now served his second term under the new constitution between 2016 and 2021.
With all these 3 questions answered, President Edgar Lungu is not eligible to contest the 2021 General Election.
What the PF don’t understand is that you can’t backdate the law, you can’t apply the law in retrospect. The 2016 rules about a full term of office can’t be applied to Lungu’s term of office in 2015.
Lungu’s first term was determined by the rules of the 1996 Constitution where even 1 day in office counts as a full term.
His second term in office has been determined by the Amended Constitution of 2016.
Article 106(5) doesn’t apply to Lungu because he’s never been in any of those two scenarios.
Lungu has never been a Vice President finishing off another president’s term under the current constitution.
Lungu was not first elected under the current constitution.
It’s a very clearcut legal argument and John Sangwa will have a field day in court, if the judges are fair and not compromised they’ll disqualify Lungu very quickly, and it will be too late for the PF to find a replacement candidate.
Copyright NDC MEDIA 02.11.2020