Historian Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa has charged that the presidency is working with allies in the Judiciary to order an indefinite closure of the courts, effective today in order to prevent the opposition from challenging “a sham and stolen” August 13 election.
Posting on his Twitter feed, Dr Sishuwa pointed to the presidency as having been behind the closure of the court premises.
Daily Revelation has reached out to State House to respond to Dr Sishuwa and the opposition’s charge that the presidency was behind the indefinite closure of court grounds by working with allies out of fear of having “the sham and stolen election” challenged in court.
State House Chief Communication Specialist Clayson Hamasaka when called by Daily Revelation indicated that he was not in a position to talk and asked the journalist to Whatsapp the query instead. However, the query sent has not been responded to yet.
In his post, Dr Sishuwa stated that Zambia’s constitution allowed any person to challenge the election of a president-elect within seven days following the declaration of the results. The deadline for filing a petition is 25 August.
He accused the presidency of having learnt that lawyers for main rival Brian Mundubile had completed working on their petition and were ready to file it today, and that the same prompted the closure of the courts on unstated security concerns.
”The army has since barricaded the High Court and Supreme Court premises and is sending everyone away. It is clear that Hichilema is determined to close all avenues for peaceful and legal resolution of election disputes,” charged Dr Sishuwa.
Credit picture: Smart Eagles
