By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –
THE ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of the High Court to refuse granting  it leave for judicial review to compel the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to announce the date for the by-election in Kasama Central Constituency.

. Mwamba

Meanwhile, former Kasama Central member of Parliament (MP), Geoffrey Mwamba has appealed against the ruling of the Lusaka High Court, which dismissed his request to stay the Speaker of the National Assembly‘s decision to declare his seat vacant.
PF secretary general Davies Chama said he was dissatisfied with the ruling by the Lusaka High Court Judge Nicole Sharpe-Phiri and, as such, he was appealing against the whole ruling.
Mr Chama said that Ms Justice Sharpe-Phiri erred in law and fact and consequently misdirected herself by not distinguishing the legal issues in the case before her and the issues before Judge Florence Lengalenga by treating them as one-and- the-same.
Ms Justice Phiri threw out Mr Chama’s application saying the application was premature as there was another matter before Ms Justice Lengalenga relating to the Kasama Central seat.
Mr Chama has also argued in his memorandum of appeal filed in the Supreme Court that Ms Justice Sharpe-Phiri erred both in law and fact when she dismissed the constitutional issues brought  in the application for leave, by wrongly invoking the provisions of Order 53 rule 4 (55).
In this matter, Mr Chama applied for judicial review in the Lusaka High Court to compel ECZ to announce the date for a by-election in Kasama Central Constituency.
Mr Chama had on behalf of PF contended that the seat which was held by Mr Mwamba on a PF ticket was declared vacant and that there was no stay that had been granted to him by any court in Zambia preventing the ECZ from announcing the election date.
He wanted the court to grant him leave to commence proceedings against ECZ and Attorney General Likando Kalaluka alleging they had illegally refused or neglected to announce the by-election date.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwamba has on the other hand, appealed against Ms Justice Lengalenga’s decision to stay the Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini’s decision to declare his seat vacant.
This was after Mr Mwamba accepted the position as vice-president for administration in the  United Party for National Development.