The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has described as unfortunate the decision by the Constitutional Court to dismis the presidential petion on a technicality, without hearing the case.
And Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba says the Constitutional Court should have determined the petition filed by the UPND challenging the election of President Edgar Lungu and his running mate Inonge Wina rather than dismissing it on a technicality.
On Monday, September 5, the Constitutional Court controversially dismissed the case on grounds that the 14 days within which to hear the petition, as enshrined in Article 103(2) of the Republican Constitution, had lapsed. This was despite the full bench of the Constitutional Court earlier agreeing to extend the hearing by four days.
FODEP however believes the Constitutional Court failed to provide direction and guidance throughout the process and consequently denied the petitioners their fundamental right to a fair and public hearing.
“FODEP notes that the unfortunate developments reflects a failure of the Constitutional Court to timely and ably guide and direct the parties as to how the matter would proceed, the importance of adherence to the time limit, and the need for parties to avoid unnecessary interlocutory applications. The Court’s general direction and guidance should have been given at a scheduling conference, immediately after the filing of the petition and answer as provided for under Order XIV Rule 3 of the Constitutional Court Rules, 2016,” said FODEP executive director Chimfwembe Mweenge said in a statement.
“Additionally, FODEP wishes to emphasise the Constitutional right of citizens to be heard in judicial proceedings before judgement is given by a court. Every citizen is entitled to a fair and public hearing by an impartial court in the determination of their rights. Given the limited time-frame given by the Constitution, the Constitutional Court should have accorded the parties ample time to present their case and even sit during the weekend, if necessary, to ensure that the fundamental right to be heard was ably accorded to the parties. Moreover, the 14 days prescribed by the Constitution is inclusive of Saturday and Sunday as envisaged by Article 269 of the Constitution.
“The courts are there to dispense justice and conclude any matters before them within the time permitted by law. The presidential petition should have been dealt with conclusively after hearing the merits of the case and not end on a technicality of lapse of time. This invariably resulted in an injustice to the petitioners, and a bad precedent for future presidential petitions.”
And Mweenge has observed that the presidential petition was dented with multiple inconsistent rulings of the Constitutional Court which made the procedure to be followed unpredictable and warned that this has potential to erode public confidence in the ability of the Court to deliver a fair and measured ruling on the matters before it.
Meanwhile, ,Rainbow Party Leader Wynter Kabimba says the constitutional court should have determined the petition filed by the UPND challenging the election of President Edgar Lungu and his running mate Inonge Wina rather than dismissing it on a technicality.
In an interview with Hot FM News, Kabimba charged that Zambians will never really know what happened during the 2016 general polls because the court refused to hear the petition.
