HH SHOULD AS WELL STAND AGAIN IN 2031 FOR THE THIRD TIME SINCE SOME IRRESPONSIBLE CITIZENS WANT ECL TO STAND FOR THE 4TH TIME .
By Mark Simuuwe
Listening to those advancing a campaign for the former head of state Edgar Lungu to stand for the forth time now makes some of us believe that It has become so clear that some Zambians do not want to respect the constitution .
If we want to break the constitution and interpret it just to suit Edgar Lungu to stand for the 4th time, then we are saying HH should as well stand again in 2031 after he has served the two terms, since this is what we want to set as precedence .
Some gullible citizens do not seem to know what they are playing with in this eligibility debate. If we continue to be irresponsible , our court may soon set a precedent that will backfire after President HH has served his two terms .
What some people do not know is that the court can actually ,by interpretation ,manipulate the express provisions of the constitution and set a bad precedent that becomes law for all future decisions by pronouncement.
Without prejudice, if the court today ruled in favour of ECL and those dancing with ECL celebrate , they should be ready to drink own medicine when the same judgement qualifies President HH in 2031 and beyond .
This is the notorious fact that we may land ourselves in , based on the reasoning of those who are propagating the eligibility of ECL .
The interpretation of the court on the eligibility has been over debated even when we all knew that a mistake was made when we allowed ECL to attempt to become president for the third time – on the pretext of finishing Sata’s term.
In 2021 , we allowed ECL to want to be sworn in for the third time and rule for more than 10 years; simply put , if ECL won elections in 2021 , he could have ruled for more than 10 years , defying the 10 year rule limit for the position of the presidency.
I personally have no problem having ECL on the ballot because I know his thinking capacity and limit when it comes to running the country. I also know his limitations when it comes to debates and articulating issues . But I am more concerned of the manner in which the judgement may be used after 2026 and 2031 . We shall regret for the rest of our lives should the judgement allow ECL to stand for the 4th time.
The sad reality about statutory interpretation is that once pronounced by the court , it remains law and may be used in different situations to qualify similar situations. It will take other amendments again in future to address that mischief.
Zambians should be responsible and learn to accept what the constitution says .
When the constitution says , “one who has held office twice does not qualify to be president “, it means being sworn in twice . It is not discussing terms . Sadly , we allowed the court before 2021 to interpret what amounts to a term and not whether , one held office twice or not , and this is why we are here .
We used “holding of office twice…” to mean a “term “and yet we know that such a provision of “holding office twice” to mean the same as “term “ is unconstitutional.”
Old , irresponsible , so-called senior citizens will be dead in future after landing us in problems . Zambians shall be fighting over eligibility in future when the old irresponsible men of today will be long gone.
It is however clear that our colleagues are using “ sworn twice “, and “holding office” loosely and this will soon haunt us .
We must wake up and stop this nonsense of ignorantly breaking the constitution to suit our political ego .
Ends //
WAGON MEDIA