Zambia Opposition Party Fires Five of Its Members Despite Court Suit

Zambia’s opposition Patriotic Front (PF) has justified its decision to expel five of its members of parliament from the party despite an ongoing court case on the matter.

Party president Michael Sata said on Sunday that the decision by the party to expel the five MPs would not amount to contempt of court as the MPs had been expelled for different reasons.

Twenty six of the party’s 43 MPs had a serious fallout with the top leadership of the party after going against a party decision not to participate in a government driven constitution making process.

The government set up the National Constitution Conference (NCC) last year and selected more than 500 people including MP’s to participate in analyzing a draft national constitution for the country.

The government driven process has however been bitterly opposed by many including the PF who instructed its MPs not to sit on the NCC but 26 of them did so in defiance of the party.

To prevent their expulsions from the party the 26 MPs sought a court order that has so far prevented the party from taking any action against them.

The party however expelled five of the 26 and said the action has been taken because of other regulations the five had broken.

The four of the five are alleged to have stopped paying their subscription fees to the party, which is a punishable offense, while the fifth was charged with gross insubordination.

The five said they would return to court to have their leaders committed to prison for contempt of court.

In Zambia, contempt of court is a criminal offense that carries a jail term of up to two years.

Source African Press Agency

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