AG’s office yet to decide on Sec 65

The Attorney General’s office is yet to decide on whether or not to challenge the injunction on Section 65 served on the Speaker of Parliament last week.

On their part, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) say they are working towards having the injunction vacated.

Deputy Minister of Education Chikumbutso Hiwa obtained the injunction on Friday restraining Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda from invoking Section 65 on MPs that are deemed to have crossed the floor from DPP and other parties to the ruling People’s Party (PP).

The Speaker made the due announcement before the House started its deliberations at 9.30am on Friday.

If need be for the Speaker to apply for the vacation of the injunction, he is supposed to do so through the same office of the Attorney General through whom the injunction was served.

Attorney General (AG) Ralph Kasambara who is also Minister of Justice could not comment on the issue on Monday.

He referred the matter to Chief State Advocate Dr. Zolomphi Nkowani.

He could not be reached on his phones but Ministry of Justice spokesperson Apoche Itimu said a decision has not yet been made on whether or not to challenge the injunction.

The Speaker initially threw out the DPP petition last Thursday, arguing it lacked evidence and the injunction was served on him as he was about to make a second ruling after the DPP had written him again with fresh evidence.

The Speaker is expected to rule on whether he agrees with the DPP which is seeking to have at least 40 MPs thrown out of the House for allegedly crossing the floor to the PP.

DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi in a separate interview said the party has temporarily abandoned its move to drag the Speaker to court to force him to rule on Section 65, saying the party’s energies are now directed towards vacating the injunction first.