GBM was in the wrong, says Kabimba

THE ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has said it was an illusion for Kasama Central Member of Parliament, Geoffrey Mwamba to rush to court to block his expulsion because he flouted party regulations.
PF Secretary General, Wynter Kabimba said the Northern Province PF committee had been in constant touch with Mr Mwamba from the day he was charged and suspended from the party but he neglected to respond to the charge.
Mr Mwamba was expelled by the Northern Province disciplinary committee for conduct likely to bring the name of the party into ridicule, contempt, disrepute and acting disrespectfully to the party.
“It was an illusion for Mr Mwamba to conclude and pray to the court to find that the purported expulsion was illegal by reason of procedural impropriety and ought to know that the PF’s Northern
Province committee had authority under the party’s disciplinary code to expel any member of the party,” Mr Kabimba said.
Mr Kabimba in response to an affidavit in support of summons to an interlocutory injunction not to expel Mr Mwamba from the party, said the plaintiff’s application before court was unattainable because he flouted the party disciplinary procedure.
He further submitted that Mr Mwamba was not supposed to challenge the decision of the Provincial PF disciplinary committee that expelled him because he refused to appear before the committee and resorted to responding through the press.
“I have been informed by Northern Province senior party officials that throughout the procedure when Mr Mwamba was slapped with a charge and subsequent suspension, he has refused, failed or
neglected to respond to the charge or attend the meetings and the disciplinary hearings,” Mr Kabimba said.
He said Mr Mwamba was a senior party official who ought to have known that the decision of the provincial committee was not final as they were expected to submit their recommendations to the party’s Central Committee for further hearing and final decisions.
Mr Kabimba added that Mr Mwamba further neglected to adhere or to invoke the provisions of the PF disciplinary code to which he was duly bound as both member of the party and as Kasama MP.
He said Mr Mwamba had not exhausted the normal administrative procedure by appearing before the disciplinary committee which would have submitted its new recommendations to the Central Committee.

Times of Zambia