Setback for Chiluba

Zambia’s High Court on Wednesday derailed an attempt by the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to sack renegade legislators opposed to President Frederick Chiluba’s aborted bid for a third term in office. In a five-page ruling, High Court judge Tamula Kakusa said that the 21 MPs were still members of the party. He added that objections raised by government lawyers were based on “flimsy grounds, lacked merit and were feeble afterthoughts,” that deserved to be dismissed with costs to follow later. Mutembo Nchito, counsel for the dissident legislators told IRIN: “This means that ... those expelled as MP’s are still MMD MP’s indefinitely, so they shall keep enjoying parliamentary privileges.” If the legislators had been sacked by the party, they would automatically have lost their seats. The court ruling comes at a bad time for Chiluba. He is faced with an impeachment petition filed before House Speaker, Amusa Mwanamwambwa. The petitioners, mostly renegade MMD MP’s, have obtained 65 signatures, enough to compel the Speaker to convene parliament to hear charges of gross misconduct against Chiluba, and that he allegedly violated the party’s constitution. However, the dissidents are unlikely to win the required votes of two-thirds of the 158 MPs in the MMD-dominated parliament to take the impeachment process to the crucial tribunal stage, analysts told IRIN. Under the constitution, a tribunal of judges appointed by the chief justice has the final decision on stripping a president of his powers. Meanwhile, in a related development, police on Wednesday raided the home of former labour and social security minister Edith Nawakwi and picked her up for questioning. “They alleged that she had attempted in the recent past to assault some deputy editor at the ‘Daily Mail’ (a state-owned newspaper),” her lawyer told IRIN. “They also alleged that she had defamed President Chiluba.” Nawakwi, a leading member of the MMD faction opposed to Chiluba’s bid to run for presidential elections later this year, was warned and cautioned by the police. “We did not allow her to speak on any of the allegations,” her lawyer said. Chiluba’s campaign to run for a third term finally expired earlier this month. Amid intense domestic and international pressure, Chiluba announced on 6 May that he would not use his parliamentary majority to force a constitutional amendment to allow him to stand beyond the current two terms. However, at a controversial party congress, he succeeded in winning approval to remain as MMD president for a further term. Pro-democracy activists are concerned that his victory would enable him to influence his successor.