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Shikapwasha explains Kunda’s U-turn on 50%+1

Shikapwasha explains Kunda’s U-turn on 50%+1
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 22 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

CHIEF government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha has said Vice-President George Kunda is wiser in legal matters now than he was in 1996 when he supported the view that Zambia had lived with the 50 per cent plus one clause since independence in 1964.

In an interview on Wednesday based on the statement he circulated to National Constitutional Conference (NCC) delegates on Tuesday accusing The Post of lying by indicating in its editorial comment that the country had lived with the 50 per cent plus one clause since independence, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said Vice-President Kunda was wrong that time when he also supported the view.

“The articles that I posted in there his statement they are indisputable, they are in the Constitution. Every constitution that you look at does not say that in 1964 there was a 50 per cent plus one. That is totally incorrect, the Constitution doesn't say that. So, no matter how much you can try and justify, all the constitutions don't say that. I have looked at every part of the Constitution on the 50 per cent plus one, it was never there in 1964,” Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

Asked if he was admitting or suggesting that Vice-President Kunda was wrong when he talked about the 50 per cent clause in the Law Association of Zambia's resolutions of the extraordinary general meeting held in August 1996, Lt Gen Shikapwasha answered in the affirmative.

He was then referred to an advertisement on page 3 of The Post, dated Monday August 12, 1996 in which then LAZ chairman George Kunda argued against the simple majority system.

“Well, the thing that's been produced there does not even conform with the Constitution that's there now. Ask the Vice-President, he is the one who produced that when he was there. You can ask him and he will tell you that he is much wiser now than he was at that time. Yes, I can say he was wrong that time because it was not there in the 1964 Constitution,” Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

According to resolutions passed at an extraordinary LAZ meeting passed at the extra-ordinary meeting in 1996 in Lusaka and advertised on page 3 of The Post on Monday, August 12, 1996, the then LAZ chairman George Kunda stated that Zambia had lived with the 50 per cent plus one clause on the election of a President since 1964.

“ … Article 34 (8) which provides that a 'Returning Officer shall declare a candidate who receives the highest number of votes cast to have been dully elected as President', departs from the long established fundamental requirement of law since Independence in Zambia that a Presidential candidate must receive more than 50 per cent of the valid votes cast,” stated George Kunda.

Labels: 50 PERCENT PLUS 1, GEORGE KUNDA, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA

posted by MrK @ 6:49 PM