'PRESIDENT LUNGU TO BE IMPEACHED FOR DEPT WHICH PARLIAMENT APPROVED'

'PRESIDENT LUNGU TO BE IMPEACHED FOR DEPT WHICH PARLIAMENT APPROVED' - COLUMNIST.

By ISAAC MWANZA(Columnist) | LUSAKA TIMES:

Shortly before the South African Parliament was to pass a motion of no confidence in President Zuma, Opposition Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) begun calls for Parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections held before a new president of the country is elected.

EFF leader Julius Malema stated, “Once we remove Zuma, Parliament must be dissolved. The Constitutional Court made a ruling that Parliament failed to discharge its responsibility when it couldn’t protect the Public Protector, including holding the president accountable”

The Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said they were calling for early elections because the ruling party is holding the country to ransom while the African Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe says this is not about just Zuma: “As a collective, we’re saying the man (Zuma) is not the only problem. The proof is that with all the motions of no confidence and having stated why we want President Jacob Zuma to step down, the ANC Members of Parliament defended and protected him.”

Zambia has launched an impeachment motion, similar to South Africa’s motion of no confidence, except the allegations made against the President of Zambia are mainly about the collective decisions made the Cabinet while other grounds are matters before the Court.

Some of the allegations made against the President of Zambia include procurement of debt, presidential undertaking of foreign trips when money could have been spent on hospitals or health facilities and procurement of debt. The other grounds which are also matters the United Party for National Development (UPND) leaders Hakainde Hichilema, Godfrey Bwalya Mwamba and Heritage Party Leader Brigadier General Miyanda has taken to court involve the question whether President Lungu should have handed over power to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Patrick Matibini, and President Lungu’s remarks on the eligibility case, respectively.

UNPACKAGING THE GROUNDS

1. Allegation on procurement of public debt

The particulars of the allegation on this matter is contained in 2.

2.2.2: The President conducted himself in a manner which brought the office of the President in disrepute, ridicule and/or contempt by procuring public debt which is beyond the capacity of the Nation to sustain contrary to provisions of Article 198 (c) of the Constitution.

The relevant provisions of the Constitution of Zambia, Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia are Articles 63(2)(d), Article 114 (1)(e) and Article 65(2)(e) which read, in this same order, as follows:

“Article 63(2)(d)

The National Assembly shall oversee the performance of executive functions by approving public debt before it is contracted”

The ground raises the question on what role did the President play in debt contraction? Did Parliament discharge its mandate under Article 63(2)(d) or it failed such that if it was in South Africa, Julius Malema, would say ‘Parliament must be dissolved because it failed to discharge its responsibility including holding the President accountable in contracting public debt’? Did the Minister of Finance, through the Bill on National Budget, seek Parliamentary approval of the debt to be contracted? Did Parliament collectively approve the Budget?

If South Africa’s ACD leader Meshoe was a Member of the Zambian Parliament, wouldn’t he have said, ‘As a collective, we’re saying the man (Lungu) is not the only problem,… the PF Members of Parliament defended and protected President Lungu’s borrowing by approving the Budget’?

CONCLUSION

If President Lungu is to be impeached for contracting a public debt, Parliament should consider a motion to dissolve itself for approving the Money Bill that outlined how much Government was allowed to borrow. Secondly, this ground is a way of putting the 41 Cabinet and Provincial Ministers on trial who recommend, for approval of the National Assembly loans to be contracted by the State.

As President Lungu does not get directly involved in procurement of debt except chairing Cabinet, the ground is a way of putting the ruling Patriotic Front on trial for the many debts that it has contracted. The success of the ground on debt contraction will simply confirm that the ruling Patriotic Front has failed to govern. In an event that this ground succeeds and two-thirds of Members of Parliament vote to impeach President Lungu based on the debt Parliament approved, to quote Julius Malema, ‘the problem will be the PF, and the people of Zambia must be given a chance to vote for their next leader.’

SOURCE:

LT.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all ...

DEREK CHAUVIN TO BE CHARGED OVER ANOTHER 2017 INCIDENT.

New York, U.S: The Department of Justice is reportedly considering charging Derek Chauvin in a 2017 incident involving a Black teenager that came to light while prosecutors were preparing the George Floyd murder case against the former Minneapolis cop. The DOJ’s investigation focuses on footage of Chauvin striking a 14-year-old so hard that he needed stitches to close the wound, then kneeling on him for almost 17 minutes — mostly putting pressure on his upper back — as the youngster complained he couldn’t breathe, ABC News reported. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes before the 46-year-old Black man died May 25, 2020 after begging for air. Chauvin was convicted of his murder Tuesday. Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder on Tuesday. (AP) A state prosecutor wrote of the 2017 incident that “videos show a far more violent and forceful treatment of this child than Chauvin describes in his report,” yet no action was taken against him. ABC News reported t...

BEES 'ARRESTS' SUSPECTED THIEVES IN UGANDA.

Bees 'handcuffed' one of the suspects around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands. Image: Daily Monitor. Kampala, UGANDA: Two burglars who are suspected to have stolen a television set in Sofiia village, Busia Town in eastern Uganda are in police custody after they were attacked by a swarm of bees. Like police would handcuff a suspect, a swarm of bees mobbed the hands of one of the suspects, while another reportedly had the TV set stuck on his hands as they returned the stolen items to where they had been picked from. Ms Rashida Jowelia, the owner of the property, said her TV set was stolen from her house last Friday, but she decided to seek the services of a medicine man in Sofia Village rather than report the matter to police. The suspects were identified as Wycliffe Kinara and Richard Duki, both Kenyan nationals from Nakuru. Bees 'handcuffed' one of them around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands...

MAN SAVED FROM POISONING BY DRINKING 15 CANS OF BEER.

Doctors in north-central Vietnam used 15 cans of beer to save the life of a man suffering from alcohol poisoning and yes, you read that correctly. Nguyen Van Nhat, 48, was taken to Quang Tri General Hospital on Christmas after allegedly consuming alcoholic drinks that contained methanol, a highly toxic form of alcohol. So doctors immediately gave him three cans of beer. Le Van Lam, head of the hospital’s intensive care unit, explained that the beer was administered in order to slow down the rate at which Nhat’s liver was processing the methanol, according to Vietnamese newspaper Tuổi Trẻ. Nguyen Van Nhat is treated for methanol poisoning at a hospital in Quang Tri Province in north-central Vietnam. Image: Tuoi Tre Essentially, there are two types of alcohol: ethanol and methanol. The former is a primary ingredient in both fermented and distilled alcoholic beverages—the stuff that makes you feel drunk in small doses and sick in large doses—although it doesn’t typi...

THOUSANDS OF FAKE COVID-19 VACCINES HAVE BEEN SEIZED IN SOUTH AFRICA & CHINA.

File photo - Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock Image: africanews. Lyon, FRANCE: Police have seized thousands of counterfeit coronavirus vaccines in South Africa and China and have made more than 80 arrests after a criminal network selling fake jabs was uncovered, Interpol said on Wednesday. In South Africa, police officers found 400 ampoules of fake vaccines, equivalent to around 2,400 doses, at a warehouse just outside Johannesburg. A large quantity of fake 3M masks was also found and police arrested three Chinese nationals and a Zambian national. Police in South Africa seized hundreds of fake COVID-19 vaccines and made several arrests following a global alert issued by INTERPOL. In China, police successfully identified a network selling counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines, raided the manufacturing premises, resulting in the arrest of some 80 suspects, and seized more than 3,000 fake vaccines on the scene. The investigation was supported and coordinated by Interpol’s Illicit Goods ...

DELE ALLI BOOED BY NIGERIAN FANS AFTER CHOOSING TO PLAY FOR ENGLAND OVER NIGERIA.

London, ENGLAND: Nigeria fans booed Dele Alli at Wembley because he was playing for England and not them. The Tottenham star has a Nigerian father, but he was born in England and has lived in the country since birth. Bamidele Jermaine Alli (born 11 April 1996), better known as Dele Alli, is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team. Image: NGN. Loud boos echoed around the stadium when Alli touched the ball during the World Cup warm-up match. Alli made it clear from the off that he would pursue his international career with the Three Lions. He progressed through the youth ranks and made several appearances at Under-17 and Under-18 level. England fans flocked to Twitter to defend the 22-year-old star, with one stating: "Dele Alli is getting booed for playing for England rather than Nigeria, guys he was born in Milton Keynes." Alli did not let th...

LECTURER ARRESTED FOR GIFTING BOMB TO NEWLY-WED COUPLE, KILLING THE GROOM.

The wedding of Soumya and Reema in the city of Bolangir in India’s eastern state of Odisha was solemnized in February this year like any other Indian wedding, except for a surprise gift they received five days after the wedding, which ended their short-lived marital bliss. New Delhi (Sputnik) — Police in India's eastern state of Odisha claim to have cracked the sensational parcel bomb wedding gift case after two months of investigation. The police said that after looking at the many aspects of the case, they zeroed in on Punjilal Meher, a colleague of the groom's mother who has reportedly confessed to have packed a bomb and sent to it the newly-wed couple wishing them a happy married life. The incident took place on February 23 this year, five days after Soumya and Reema tied the knot. They received a parcel from an unknown sender. When opened, the parcel exploded, killing Soumya on the spot, while Reema and another family member were severely burnt. The Odish...

FORMER PUSSYCAT DOLL CLAIMS BAND WAS A "PROSTITUTION RING"

Kaya Jones claims the Pussycat Dolls were operated as a "prostitution ring" during her time in the group. The 33-year-old star joined the girl band as a teenager in 2003 and has now claimed entertainment executives took advantage of members, alleging they were "all abused" and had pressure put on them to "sleep with whoever they say". KAYA JONES. In a series of tweets, Jones wrote: "Tried to silence us, made us stronger. Tried to drug us, but we were wide awake. Tried to blacklist us, but fans followed. We aren't kids anymore. "The children you messed with that survived the abuse, we are adults now. Are you ready old ones to fight? Cause you all are looking mighty old. "My truth. I wasn't in a girl group. I was in a prostitution ring. Oh & we happened to sing & be famous. While everyone who owned us made the $ "How bad was it? People ask. Bad enough that I walked away from my dreams, bandmates & a 1...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog