By Esther Chisola
Lusaka lawyer Makebi Zulu says the petition by Miza Phiri before the Constitutional Court to reverse the court’s earlier judgement which ordered 64 ministers to repay the state for remaining in office illegally in 2016, has a chance of going through.
Commenting on the intention to revise the decision of ministers not havieven after the dissolution of parliament, Makebi said the Constitutional Court is unpredictable.
“The Constitutional Court has become very unpredictable. Before the eligibility ruling (which reversed the earlier ruling by the court allowing former president Edgar Lungu to contest future elections), I would say this matter would definitely fail,” Zulu said. “But with the unpredictability that has been set in the Constitutional Court, you can say that the ruling may or may not go the other way round.”
He said this was a matter of waiting and seeing what would happen.
“But if assuming they choose to reverse their earlier decisions, then it will open up the challenge of all the judgments in a similar manner. And maybe this is an opportunity for the court to show that it is not the political atmosphere that influences their judgements but the law itself. But we will wait and see,” he said.
And Zulu, who is representing former PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri, said the aggravated robbery charge against his client did not make sense.
Early this month, police in Kawambwa District formally charged Phiri, with aggravated robbery, a non bailable charge.
“It is very political because the statements from the witnesses are all not saying that she participated in what they alleged she did. So, it’s not making any sense that they should be charging her with such an offense,” he said.
Asked how his client reacted to the charge, he said she was innocent.
“She is innocent and she knows she is innocent of this and she knows this is intended to inconvenience her. And she knows this is political. She is a politician and she knows that this is probably the hazard that she has to face where you are a politician,” he said.
He said his client does not mind the rule by terror which President Hakainde Hichilema is engaging in, stressing that she looked to the liberation of Zambians.
“From this terronic rule of President Hakainde Hichilema, where people cannot enjoy their rights, where people like herself are being accused falsely, and where the police know very well that she never did, and because it benefits them, they will do it anyways. Yes, so, she is looking forward to coming out and will continue campaigning so that these guys are out,” said Zulu.
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