IT’S time to impeach Lungu, says Syakalima – The Mast

The Mast Online:

NOW is the time to impeach Edgar Lungu, says UPND Chirundu member of parliament Douglas Syakalima.

In an interview, Syakalima said one of the grounds for the motion to impeach President Lungu that was submitted in Parliament earlier in the year was his threat to judges of the Constitutional Court.

He said many of the things included in that impeachment motion were in court and the PF took issue over them.

“So we shall pick things that are not in court like one which is no longer in court because they still remain constitutional breaches. And the Constitution is very clear, it says ‘and any other law’. Lungu has breached so many laws, okay. He is lucky that we are almost closing [current session of Parliament]; it will be difficult to lodge the papers for impeachment because of the period. But I think that the time that we come back next, we need to remove him from office for transgressing so many laws and the Constitution itself,” Syakalima, who is also UPND presidential advisor, said. “All of us are accountable to the people of Zambia – all the three wings, the constitution is so consistent; when it talks about the judiciary, the judiciary is accountable to the people, the legislature is accountable to the people of Zambia and the executive is also accountable to the people of Zambia. None of these institutions are accountable to anybody other than to the people. This is why we still got the people to seek mandate of the people.”

Syakalima said the people had the right to seek what they want from the three wings of the government.

“And on behalf of the people, the legislature must impeach this person. This is now time for all Zambians to rally behind the legislature who have the onerous job because they put us there so they must do the things the way the Constitution dictates,” he said.

Syakalima wondered how in 2021 politicians would go back to the people whom they were not protecting.

He said the same thing that would happen in Heaven when people go to give accounts of what they did on earth must be practiced now.

Syakalima said the people were the masters and leaders were the servants.

“So how can a servant be mischievous like this? Not even in our homes, our servants don’t misbehave the way Lungu misbehaves. What type of a servant is Lungu? He is so mischievous. You can imagine if in all our homes we had mischievous servants like Lungu, would we be running home? There would be chaos,” he said. “This is a servant who even told the court that if you don’t rule according to me there will be chaos, what type of a servant is that one proposing chaos in the country?”

Told that the Head of State could be exercising powers given to him by the Constitution, Syakalima said: “He has no power, power lies in the people, that’s what the Constitution says, you know mischief, people can decide to be mischievous even in the midst of the law and the only recourse we have for this President is impeachment.”

The Mast Online