Suspension of Kalumbila Council is Illigal-Samakai

01.10.2020

United Party for National Development (UPND) Mwinilunga MP, Newton Samakai has condemned Local Government and Housing Minister, Dr Charles Banda’s decision to suspend the UPND-dominated Kalumbila Council for inviting party Chairman, Mutale Nalumango to the area, recently.

In an interview, Mr Samakai stated that the suspension of the Kalumbila Municipality was a political move which lacked merit as it didn’t have any legal backing.

He charged that the Local Government Act Number 2 of 2019 Section 56 and to Article 152 of the Constitution of Zambia which the Minister used as the basis for suspending the Oryx Mutumba led-council lacked merit as the above Act only gave power to the Minister to suspend councils that had failed to deliver according to their mandate.

“The council failing to execute or carrying out its function that has been given to them or the council showing inability to carry out a function that is given to them is the basis on which the council can be suspended. But in this case of Kalumbila Council: the council hasn’t failed to carry out any function; it has not failed to carry out any function and the council has not shown that it has no ability to carry out any function that is given to them,” he observed.

My advise to the Legal Team of the UPND is that, this is a matter that they should take up and take on Hon. Banda legally because this is politics and not law. I think he has struggled to find, to connect what happened in Kalumbila to the law itself when Chair Nalumango visited the area,” he said.

Watch video —NFMI3904

UPND MEDIA TEAM