Nkombo asks ConCourt to dismiss petition against MPs
By Staff Reporter
MAZABUKA member of parliament Garry Nkombo and 51 others have asked the Constitutional Court to dismiss the petition seeking to declare that opposition legislators breached the Constitution when they shunned President Edgar Lungu’s address to Parliament in 2017.
Nkombo and 51 others have argued that the petition by Richard Mumba who is a Kabangwe resident lacks merit and was an abuse of court process.
He submitted that the court did not have jurisdiction to determine the matter, thus the petition should be struck out and dismissed on the ground that the petition and affidavit verifying facts do not disclose any cause of action against the respondents capable of being sustained by the court.
Nkombo’s affidavit filed in court, also states that the facts relied upon by Mumba in the amended petition and in the affidavit verifying facts does not also disclose any violation of the Constitution to warrant the subsistence of the action before the court in terms of the jurisdiction conferred upon it under Article 128 (1) of the Constitution.
And Nkombo stated that the reliefs Mumba was seeking in the amended petition fell aside of the relief which the court was mandated to grant having regard inter alia to the provisions of Article 128 (1) of the Constitution which set out the jurisdiction of the court.
He added that the reliefs the petitioner is seeking offends the principles of “Trias Politica” or “separation of powers” as read with Article 77 (1) of the Constitution which provides that the National Assembly shall regulate its own procedure and accordingly render the action a nullity.
The petitioner wants the court to order that the 52 members of parliament contravened articles 72 (2)(c) and 261 of the code of ethics; articles 260 oath of office and section 19 (e); acts of intentional disrespect to the President and proceedings of the National Assembly when they shunned President Lungu’s address.
