Maravi

We’ll stop Rupiah from standing - PF

We’ll stop Rupiah from standing - PF
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 03 Aug. 2011, 14:00 CAT

OPPOSITION PF says President Rupiah Banda doesn’t qualify to stand for the Republican presidency and they will stop him from contesting the September 20 elections. Addressing a media briefing at the party secretariat yesterday, Patriotic Front secretary general and spokesperson Wynter Kabimba advised the MMD to start looking for an alternative presidential candidate.

“We don’t want the MMD to cry foul when they find themselves without a presidential candidate. We are taking up this matter very seriously and we are taking appropriate measures to ensure that the Constitution of this country is respected by all,” said Kabimba, who is also a lawyer.

He said no candidate should be allowed to circumvent the Zambian constitution.

“We shall be writing to SADC, the African Union and the UN on whether or not the MMD can proceed to field or sponsor Mr Rupiah Banda as a presidential candidate in the 2011 elections before he satisfies the Zambians and these organisations that he qualifies to stand as a candidate,” Kabimba said.

“We are not asking SADC, AU and the UN to intervene; what we are doing is that we are writing to them to inform them that constitutional democracy in Zambia is at risk and that if the Constitution is not respected, especially by those that are in authority, this is recipe for anarchy.”

He said it was wise that Parliament decided to enact the law that ensures that for one to become a presidential candidate, both their parents must be indigenous Zambians.

“To be President, to be entrusted with the lives of Zambians, then your allegiance must not come from you but must extend to that of your parents as well. It is on the basis of that that president Kaunda, whose father was Malawian born, was in 1996 prevented from standing and he complied because that was the law.”

He urged SADC, AU and the UN to be kind enough to whisper in the ears of President Banda that he was unqualified to stand for presidency.

“We shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that this matter is resolved in the interest of the Zambians and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The letters to SADC, AU and the UN are ready and we will ensure they are delivered personally,” Kabimba said.

“Our hope is that these organisations will respond very quickly. The non-resolution of this matter can lead to anarchy; we don’t want anarchy in this country. We are simply being a law-abiding political party by taking these steps. In the event that President Banda succeeds to file, he would have filed his nomination papers as an ineligible candidate.”

Kabimba explained that the PF had written to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) on July 7, 2011 regarding President Banda’s parentage and his eligibility as a candidate in the 2008 presidential by-elections and the September 20, 2011 polls but the association had not responded to date.

He stated that in its letter to LAZ, the PF had emphasized that the eligibility of President Banda to contest as a presidential candidate was not a political but constitutional issue.

He said this was a matter of public interest.

“In this regard, we thought that LAZ would pursue this matter in order to satisfy the public that Mr Rupiah Banda did qualify in 2008 to contest the presidential by-election and still qualifies to do so under the provisions of the current constitution,” Kabimba said.

“In 1996, former president Kaunda was disqualified to contest as presidential candidate for UNIP because one of his parents was not born in Zambia. In protest, UNIP boycotted the 1996 elections, but this was the law then and it is still the law today in the absence of a new Constitution.”

He said Zambia as a constitutional democracy, the eligibility of anyone to contest the presidential elections was a fundamental question.

“We are in this regard putting MMD on notice that maybe it is time they started looking for an alternative candidate,” said Kabimba.

“There is now a vacancy in the MMD for those that want to apply as presidential candidates.”

Labels: PF, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 8:09 PM