Zambia's Constitutional Court orders ministers to vacate office

Zambia's Constitutional Court on Monday ordered ministers and their deputies to vacate their offices, saying they are in office illegally following the dissolution of parliament.

Ministers and their deputies had remained in office following the dissolution of parliament in May this year, a move that caused consternation among stakeholders.

The Law Association of Zambia, an association representing lawyers, decided to take the matter to the Constitutional Court for determination after President Edgar Lungu's government maintained that the ministers will not leave their offices as they will have to hand over to the new government after the Aug. 11 general elections.

But in its landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court ruled that the ministers and their deputies were in office illegally and has since asked them to leave their offices.

The court ruled that the ministers' mandate ended on the day parliament was dissolved because they were appointed from parliament.

"The ministers ought not to have continued in office in the absence of the required provision that allowed them. It is contrary to the spirit of the constitution. We do order that they should forthwith vacate office," Judge Chomba, who sat with other judges, said.

The court has also ordered them to pay back all the salaries and allowances they have been illegally accruing since May 12 when the parliament was dissolved.

The court has, however, allowed the vice-president to continue in office so that there was no vacuum in the governance of the country. 

Source : XINHUA