High Court To Decide Tomorrow If PF MPs Can Return To Parliament

The High Court in Lusaka is due to deliver a ruling tomorrow on whether eight Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament can challenge the speaker’s decision to ban them from attending parliament.

The presiding judge Gertrude Chawatama, alongside fellow judges Susan Wanhelani and Mwila Kombwe, has scheduled the ruling after hearing arguments from the MPs’ lawyer Makebi Zulu in chambers.

The MPs are seeking a judicial review in response to a decision made by Speaker Nelly Mutti last week to ban any MPs whose seats had been nullified from attending parliamentary business. They argue that the decision is unconstitutional. 

The eight MPs include former Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo, as well as Joe Malanji, Allen Banda, Kalalwe Mukosa, Mutowe Kafwaya, Lucas Simumba, Taulo Chewe and Christopher Chibuye. 

Most of these MPs had their seats nullified after courts found evidence of corruption or violence during their campaigns for the August 12th general elections. Lusambo, for instance, was found by Ndola High Court, to have carried out widespread acts of violence across his Kabushi constituency, alongside his militia group nicknamed ‘Nato Forces’. 

The Patriotic Front has become enraged over the nullified seats, with the party’s vice president Given Lubinda telling the press, “we will wait for Wednesday for the judiciary to tell Zambians how democracy shall be respected in Zambia”.