By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

THE Lusaka High Court has ordered for an inter parte hearing next Tuesday in a matter in which losing Patriotic Front (PF) candidate in the 2011 election Christerbel Ngimbu is asking the court to halt the Zambezi West by-election slated for September 11, 2014.

Judge Judy Mulongoti said in her ruling that she could not grant Ms Ngimbu an ex parte order without hearing from both parties.

This is in a matter in which Ms Ngimbu wants the court to stay the by-election for Zambezi West pending the determination of her appeal by the Supreme Court against the High Court’s refusal to render a report to the effect that former United Party for National Development (UPND) member of Parliament (MP) Charles Kakoma committed corrupt and illegal practices.

Ms Ngimbu wanted Ms Justice Mulongoti to stop Mr Kakoma from re-contesting elections for the next five years because the Supreme Court judgment of October 13, 2013 found him guilty of electoral malpractices.

But Ms Justice Mulongoti refused to grant the application, saying her court did not find Mr Kakoma guilty of committing corrupt and illegal practices and, as such, she could not render such a report.

She said she would prepare a report basing on the findings of her court and not what the Supreme Court found and that in her report, she would not name the people who were said to have committed corruption-related offences.

Ms Ngimbu, having not been satisfied with Ms Justice Mulongoti’s judgement, appealed to the Supreme Court and asked the High Court for an ex parte order to stay the by-election pending the determination of the appeal.

Ms Justice Mulongoti, however, refused to grant the order and ordered for an inter parte hearing on Tuesday next week.

She said she could not grant the request by Ms Ngimbu without hearing the side of Mr Kakoma.

UPND has since adopted Mr Kakoma, who yesterday successfully filed in his nomination papers for Zambezi West Constituency by-election.