INJUNCTION WON’T WORK …we’ll discharge it and file nominations – Malanji
By Kombe Mataka
FORMER foreign affairs minister Joseph Malanji says the bid by GEARS Initiative to block him and Bowman Lusambo from standing in the Kwacha and Kabushi by-elections can only work in Kangaroo courts.
GEARS Initiative executive director McDonald Chipenzi has asked Malanji and Lusambo not to recontest on account that the seats previously held by the duo were nullified due to established facts of corruption, violence, malpractices and non-possession or production of
the G12 academic qualification certificate, in the case of Malanji.
According to Chipenzi, the fact that the Constitutional Court upheld the High
Court ruling that nullified Lusambo and Malanji’s elections on account of corruption and malpractices, and non possession or production of the grade 12 certificate “using backdoors to recontest the by-elections was undersmining electoral integrity”.
“We are determined to invite the Constitutional court to interpret the… eligibility to recontest the elections after their elections were nullified on established facts that violated the Constitution, the electoral law and code,” said Chipenzi. “Therefore, Article 72(2) (b) and (h) guide us all that the office of a member of parliament becomes vacant if the member acts contrary to the prescribed code of conduct in this case the electoral code of conduct and/or is disqualified as a result of the decision of the Constitutional court for corruption or malpractices (Article 52(6) among other pieces of legislation, we will be summoning them to support the challenge we are drafting and ready for lodgement if the ECZ decides to accept their nominations papers on August 25.”
But Malanji told The Mast that he was aware that Chipenzi was merely seeking a
job and using him and Lusambo to get a job.
“Mr Chipenzi is very lucky that he is going to the ConCourt because they don’t charge any fees to just go and waste the court’s time. Otherwise if he was being charged for costs, he wouldn’t be dancing the way is dancing,” Malanji said. “You can see that he is a job seeker. He is looking for attention from the powers that be. Well, an injunction cannot work. An injunction is an interlocutory measure. It is not something permanent. So should he go ahead to court on Thursday, we will go to court to discharge it and file.”
Malanji said the bid to have him blocked from contesting elections would not work.
“It will not work unless he will use Kangaroo courts. But any normal court, he knows that nullification of a seat, if the court finds a grave error of contribution by the candidate petitioned, that is when they will proceed to nullify and disqualify that particular candidate,” said Malanji. “For arguments sake, if they found that that candidate is the one who killed someone during campaigns…There is a level to which they would know that he or she had crossed the red line and apart from nullification, they will also disqualify the candidate. It is very
clear. And the two seats (Kabushi and Kwacha) were merely nullified. The court puts itself on record if it is disqualifying a candidate.”