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Kunda's stay in office is unconstitutional - Wila

Kunda's stay in office is unconstitutional - Wila
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 10 Sep. 2011, 13:59 CAT

WILA Mung'omba says Vice-President George Kunda's stay in office after the dissolution of parliament remains unconstitutional. Giving his opinion on President Rupiah Banda's decision to keep Vice-President Kunda in office after dissolving Parliament on July 28 this year, Mung'omba who is a senior lawyer said the appointment was void.

He said both Vice-President Kunda and the Attorney General should have told President Banda that there was no constitutional provision for that appointment.

"It is puzzling how this strange appointment could have been made. One accepts that presidents are human beings and are therefore prone to human mistakes. But in this case, one would have thought that the President would have been assisted by Kunda himself, a lawyer, a former Attorney General and former minister of justice," Mung'omba said.

"Kunda was morally obliged to remind the President that there is no constitutional provision for that kind of appointment. It is the major function of the Attorney General as principle legal advisor to stop the Head of State from breaching the Constitution. The Secretary to the Cabinet as the number one mandarin in the public service ought to have whispered to the President that the appointment may not be in public interest. It would be incomprehensible if the President ignored all these advices and went ahead with the appointment. His intentions would then have to be scrutinized."

Mung'omba said since Vice-President Kunda's appointment was unconstitutional, it also followed that any act he performed was void.

"The appointment of Mr. George Kunda Kunda as Vice-President by President Banda after dissolution of Parliament is blatantly unconstitutional and therefore void. Any act performed by Mr. Kunda in the pretended capacity of a Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia is also null and void. This is because his appointment as Vice-President ended on 28th July 2011 when the President dissolved Parliament," Mung'omba said.

"Article 45 of the Zambian Constitution states as follows: (1) There shall be an office of Vice-President of the Republic. (2) The Vice-President shall be appointed by the President from amongst the members of the National Assembly. When Parliament has been dissolved it means that there is no pool in our country from which a President can hook out a Vice-President. Mr. Kunda ceased to be a member of the National Assembly from the moment Parliament was dissolved and it is in fact for that reason that he is seeking re-election in Muchinga Constituency."
Mung'omba said the unconstitutional appointment of Vice-President Kunda had enormous implications.

He said people should consider the unfair competition the Vice-President would give to his contenders in the constituency by virtue of his office.

"First you have a Vice-President who is in law not a Vice-President but acting as one. In effect all activities he performs in the capacity of a vice-president are void as a result of his defective appointment. Second, he continues to consume public resources to which he is not entitled. But most importantly, it makes Zambia appear like an animal farm where the rule of law is irrelevant. No other law in our land is more important than our Constitution. If favours are to be done, they must be done within our law, for how else could such an appointment be made if not to do Mr. Kunda a favour!" Mung'omba said.

"On a larger scale Zambians should be mindful that provisions of Article 36 and 38 of the Constitution always loom large and can be invoked at any time in the country's life, and, if before September 20 2011, George Kunda SC cannot automatically be the acting President, because he is not a Vice-President according to the constitution of the Republic of Zambia.

Other implications people should consider involve the fairness and ‘freeness' of elections in the constituency where Mr. Kunda is a candidate. The seat is being contested by other candidates from other parties. They are using resources either from their own pockets or their parties, whereas Mr. Kunda is campaigning using state resources. One question is whether that constituency is going to have free and fair elections."

Mung'omba said if the country had an independent Electoral Commission, it would have questioned Vice-President Kunda's candidature and possibly disqualified him from standing on grounds that he posed a huge disadvantage to other candidates.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, WILLA MUNG'OMBA

posted by MrK @ 5:35 PM