Appointment of Judge Mungeni Mulenga

Judge Mungeni Mulenga

It is gratifying that President Edgar Lungu is taking steps to operationalise the Constitutional Court in Zambia as established under article 127 of the amended Constitution ahead of the 2016 General Elections.

This Court, whose composition is the President, Deputy President and 11 judges, plays a key role in the resolution of electoral disputes in the management of 2016 electoral process leading to and after this year’s General Elections. Therefore, the current process of identifying persons to serve as judges, President and Deputy President respectively of this Court is commendable though caution must be exercised not to create patron judges of the President.

To this end, President Lungu has already committed a political blunder for identifying and recommending Judge Mungeni Mulenga, who presided over his case during the PF intra-leadership wrangles in 2015, to be appointed Deputy President of this important Court which will, in most cases, handle cases involving her favorite, President Lungu.

How in all fairness can President Lungu appoint Judge Mulenga to be Deputy President of the Constitutional Court barely a year after installing him as President of the PF and later PF candidate for the 2015 Presidential Election? Even among and within the PF members, there exist strong feelings that Judge Mulenga favoured President Lungu against Miles Sampa and other candidates who stood against him to lead the PF and later contest 2015 presidential election as republican President on PF ticket? Who can believe that the appointment of Judge Mulenga by President Lungu has been done on merit and not on a pure mwabombeni basis?

If went unchecked such appointments are detrimental to and erode public confidence in the operations of institutions of governance such as the Courts and public institutions and further undermine the institutions’ sanctity to discharge their duties and effectively deliver service to the people.

In as much as Judge Mulenga could be qualified to be Deputy President of the Constitutional Court, the appointment is ill-timed and misplaced and a clear indication that President Lungu has a hidden agenda over this appointment. In this regard, I call upon all Zambians to join me in rejecting her appointment and further appeal to Members of Parliament not to ratify Judge Mulenga as Deputy President of the Constitutional Court because doing so; will attract posterity’s harsh judgement on all of us.

McDonald Chipenzi
ELECTORAL EXPERT