WE WILL REVERSE IT WHEN WE GET INTO POWER…NO PRESIDENT TO RULE MORE THAN 10 YEARS – HH

HAKAINDE Hichilema says when the UPND Alliance forms government, the constitution will be amended to make sure that no President serves more than 10 years.

Speaking during a press briefing, Saturday, Hichilema said he was duty bound to remove some lacunas in the Constitution, adding that once the

“I want to commit to the people of Zambia that when this alliance forms government, God’s will, courtesy of the people of Zambia, one of the things we have to do for many reasons includes stopping the wastage of resources on by-elections all the time. And now, reinforced by this court’s ruling, we have to amend the constitution so that no one again will be allowed to serve more than 10 years in the presidency. Somebody thinks that they have scored, no, I think they have scored their own goal. Led by the genuine church mother bodies, it is a duty of ours to remove any lacunas such that no one will do what the people decided against,” Hichilema said.

“I must actually go back to the [Mainza] Chona Commission which talks about term limits. HH doesn’t need more than 10 years. Ten years is more than enough to set the direction so that someone else continues and I can go and look after cattle. We should not be afraid of leaving office because we had something we were doing before seeking public office. After public office, we should go back to those things and leave the country and not destroy the country. This gentleman is working towards destroying the country.”

He thanked Constitutional Lawyer John Sangwa and others for doing what most Zambians were scared of doing.

“We saw the manipulation of our laws, we saw it coming. In 2016, that amendment of the constitution was to manipulate our laws. We saw the attempt to manipulate our constitution under bill 10. We knew what the intention was, was to confer someone a third term. Yes, the Constitution Court has pronounced itself, I want to thank the gallant John Sangwa and his team for doing what most Zambians are scared of doing. But also to thank Professors Chaloka Beyani, Dr (Melvin) Mbao, Professor Cephas Lumina,” said Hichilema.

And renowned lawyer Kelvin Bwalya Fube popularly known as KBF has called on Zambians to ensure that President Lungu did not rule for the third time.

“Because the Constitutional Court has now pronounced itself, being law abiding citizens we shall make sure that we obey that ruling. However, the real question that the Zambians must be asking themselves is the same question that the court was asking: ‘is Mr Lungu going to be allowed to run for a third term?’ That is the question before us as a nation. I want the Zambians on the 12th of August 2021 to come back with one vote, one verdict and tell this candidate of the PF that the Zambians have always said no to a third term. Our history as a nation is known on this subject,” he said.

“All of the commissions and the review commission to do with the constitution, the Mung’omba Commission, the Mwanakatwe Commission, the Mvunga Commission name them. This is one particular subject that the Zambians have insisted on, there should be no third term for a President. This question is now within our rights as Zambians. We have the power and the power we must exercise on the 12th August is to tell this individual there will be no third term in this country. We had a sitting vice-president joining the masses and we went and told the late FTJ, there will be no third term in this country, who was more popular than the current President. He was a political engineer but we showed him the door.”

He said no one was celebrating the decision made by the court on President Lungu’s eligibility because it was a bad decision.

“We shall be attacking them left, right and centre and hammering them on the 12th August and the answer must be on our lips. Let me thank SC John Sangwa on behalf of Chapter One, Legal Resource Foundation and the other petitioners who took up this matter under trying conditions. And they were trying to make a point to the court. And the court must be careful when a question is being brought to you time and again, it is because the silent majority of the Zambian people are saying ‘you have given us a wrong answer. We are looking for the right answer’ that is why no one is celebrating. This decision is not being celebrated by anybody because it’s a bad decision,” said KBF.

“The politicians have to rise up and tell the judges ‘you have done your job but now we are going to show you what we as the Zambians, as a custodian of the constitution which you have failed to uphold, we are now going to uphold it’ and say we had decided as early as 2001 there will be no third term in this country. Even my elder brother Mr Lungu must be shown the door this August.”

Meanwhile, All People’s Congress president Nason Msoni and Tentani Mwanza have joined the UPND alliance.

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