Minister of Information Cornelius Mweetwa says former president Edgar Lungu has little moral right to accuse the UPND government of disrespecting the rule of law in the country.
On Friday, Lungu held a press briefing in Lusaka where he claimed that the constitution and the rule of law were undermined since the UPND government took office in 2021.
However speaking at a media briefing held yesterday, Mweetwa who also doubles as Chief Government Spokesperson said that the amount of the constitutional Illegalities under Lungu’s regime should deter the former head of state in his purported agenda to defend the constitution.
“He is not standing on any high moral grounds, infact he is standing on fragile grounds because he committed some of the most brutal attacks on the constitution of the Republic of Zambia” Mweetwa said.
“For instance and maybe he needs to reminded that under his leadership as president, the [former] First Lady, his wife, was getting an illegal allocation of funds through the National Assembly who were voting using the arrogance of numbers“ he said, “an office which is not recognized under the law as a constitutional office and therefore cannot get funding through the national budget.”
Mweetwa highlighted the several constitutional Illegalities committed under Lungu’s reign including the illegally overstayed in office in 2016 even after Parliament was dissolved.
“Secondly, isn’t it this same president, Mr Edgar Lungu, who claims today to be in defence of this constitution, that in 2016 told his ministers to continue to hold office against the provisions of this constitution that stipulates that once parliament has been dissolved, then it follows therefore, that even ministers lose their ministerial positions” he added.
Meanwhile, Mweetwa also weighed in on Lungu’s claims of alleged interference by government in legislative affairs following the recent nullification of nine Patriotic Front (PF) members of parliament seats after their expulsion from the party.
Mweetwa said the move by the Speaker of the National Assembly to unseat the nine MPs was done in line with the provisions of the Zambian constitution.
“The expulsion of the nine Members of Parliament by Mr Miles Sampa, belonging to the Patriotic Front party, and the subsequent declaration or order by the court that the legal process be taken out in the courts of law was a nullity meaning therefore the was no legal process in terms of those proceedings to be able to set aside the actions of Mr Sampa and his Secretary General Mr Morgan Ng’ona to have expelled nine Members of Parliament.
“The subsequent and earned is that parliament, in line with the law particularly section 72 which was quoted in parliament, had to declare the seats vacant in line with this constitution” he said.
“The subsequent and earned result is that parliament, in line with the law particularly section 72 which was quoted in parliament, had to declare the seats vacant in line with the constitution.”
