SANGWA MAY MAKE HH “LIFE” PRESIDENT – CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER

By Scoop Reporter

CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer John Sangwa will make President Hakainde Hichilema “life” president if the Constitutional Court follows his reasoning that if Edgar Lungu does not qualify for the 2026 elections, then the 2021 elections were null and void, another Constitutional lawyer has warned.

Joseph Chirwa, who is also a lecturer of law, researcher, and political analyst, said while he admires State Counsel Sangwa, his push for nullification of the 2021 elections if the court now holds that Mr. Lungu is not eligible for the 2026 elections, will give more years to President Hichilema in power.

Mr. Chirwa said there was a danger in pushing that agenda of tying Mr. Lungu’s eligibility entirely to the 2021 elections adding that the only person who will benefit from such a position is President Hichilema.

 “I admire State Counsel John Sangwa. I admire his thought process. I admire his wit and intellect. I read his submissions today in court and I thought I (must) say something. If the Constitutional Court follows his reasoning and holds that if ECL does not qualify (for the 2026 elections), the 2021 elections were null and void, will make HH “life” President.

“He will likely serve 13 years as President. He will serve from 2021 to whenever the courts make the decision and another full two 5-year terms if he wins. What that means is that the first term will not be counted. HH will be eligible to stand for another two terms,” Mr. Chirwa said.

He further said the Constitutional Court may have made similar rulings in favour of Mr. Lungu before but that this does not deter them from making a different ruling.

“ECL will lose out regardless of the holding. The only win for ECL is that he is eligible as so because the court held as such on five separate occasions. As I said earlier, the Constitutional Court can and may depart from its earlier position,” he said.