Lusaka ~ Saturday, 5 November 2022
By Brightwell Chabusha
I want to state that we are going to write to ECZ to clearly state that I am not going to attend that meeting, PF Chairperson for Information and Publicity Raphael Nakacinda has said.
Mr Nakacinda has declined an invitation by the ECZ to have a meeting with him over the allegations of electoral malpractice he made last week.
He accused the ECZ of being more like a branch for the UPND as he criticized the commission for giving themselves power to interpret the Constitution during the Kwacha and Kabushi Constituencies by elections.
“I want to state that we are going to write to ECZ to clearly state that I am not going to attend that meeting because we find first of all even the correspondence itself adding to the misconduct of the ECZ,” he said when he addressed the press at Lusaka Magistrate Court earlier today.
“The ECZ is the recent past, beginning with Kabushi, Kwacha by elections where they took upon themselves and donated to themselves the powers they do not have to interpret the constitution. And they were found wanting by the constitutional court.”
Mr Nakacinda said both ECZ and UPND held the same position over the two constituencies until court found them wanting.
He said sitting with the ECZ is the same as sitting with UPND’s officials.
The PF MCC was supposed to meet the Commission today.
“They further went ahead at a point where the state stayed matters to proceed to disregard the stay in the last by elections. we have raised issues that concerns them. How can I then be expected to meet them to discuss matters that concern them and the ruling party? When the matters were taken to the constitutional court, in terms of the misconduct of the ECZ, the ruling party held the same view that the ECZ held until the court found them wanting. Clearly the ECZ of today is conducting itself as a branch of UPND,” he said.
“So to sit with ECZ is as good as sitting with Imenda or indeed sitting with any official of UPND to discuss their misconduct. And I think I will not want to dignify that letter and legitimize their misconduct. I am not going to attend.”