Judiciary and 9 nullified seats

By Daily Revelation Editor

Governance Expert Professor Edgar Ngoma says Morgan Ng’ona and Robert Chabinga are engaging in the highest order of drama which must not be entertained by any serious institution.

Commenting on the nullification of the nine (PF) Parliamentary seats, Professor Ngoma said Zambians expected the judiciary to perform and discharge its duties with high levels of professionalism.

He said Ng’onga and Chabinga’s actions were illegal and should not be supported.

Clearly, Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti and her subordinate, second Deputy Speaker Moses Moyo, have put the judiciary under this unnecessary spotlight. If they had only done the right thing and upheld the supposed independence their arm of government is supposed to uphold in a proper working democratic system, the nation would have been spared all this drama.

However, they seem to be implementers of the wishes of those in the executive arm of the government, rather than being there to provide the necessary checks and balances over the executive’s over reach. Nelly and Moses could have simply allowed the court process on these nine members of parliament to be finalised before pronouncing themselves on the matter. And the speed they have acted upon all these issues related with the PF intra-party issues to seemingly favour one group is simply astonishing.

How they disregarded the action from the same Miles Sampa in offering amnesty against expelling the members of parliament when just about anything he did before that passed with the speed of light, only they can explain that.

With people having given up hope in Parliament, the judiciary has now remained the only institution of hope in as far as resolving these issues is concerned.

We believe that there are capable men and women in the judiciary who are patriotic enough and able to handle these matters in the best interest of the Zambian masses.

Otherwise, it is unacceptable that the nation should be made to bear huge costs on useless by-elections to massage someone’s political needs, during these harsh economic times when the people are just getting by. The millions that would be wasted on by-elections could as well be utilised to benefit the masses by susbisiding the sky high fuel and mealie-meal prices to help lessen the burden on the suffering Zambians.

Of course there are those who are blindly supporting moves to have these elections, clearly on very narrow and partisan lines, arguing that these elections are budgeted for. Such reasoning leaves much to be desired. Are they saying that money should be wasted unnecessarily just because it is budgeted for? What kind of sick reasoning is this? Others are saying the by-elections would offer a chance to the opposition to prove their claims that the ruling UPND has lost popularity. Again, very shallow and base thinking. So the country should be made to waste huge resources just to prove if the ruling party is still popular, or to prove the opposition wrong that their claims are false. Is this the reason why Zambians elect governments into office, so that they could waste huge public resources to prove their popularity?

Others claim that democracy is expensive. Yes, democracy is very expensive. But the expenses must be channeled towards worthy democratic causes. Those that have followed events in terms of how those in the executive and parliament have handled PF issues, already know that there is nothing worthy that has been done to justify such wanton wastage.