By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Following the release of Office Bearers of the Patriotic Front by the Chief Registrar of Societies on Monday 13th November 2023, there has been very lively and robust debate about the list.
This is expected and is attributable to information gap but also exposes the crime being perpetrated by the government of President Hakainde Hichilema to make legal and legitimate the attempted theft of the Patriotic Front.
Below is the Brief Background
On 25th April 2023, the Chief Registrar of Societies wrote to the Patriotic Front, informing the Party that she intended to cancel its registration.
“You are hereby notified that I intend on canceling your Political Party following your failure to comply with the Order to avail a full and complete list of Office Bearers of your Party.”
“As you may be aware, it is a legal requirement under Section 2 of the Societies Act Cap 119 of the Laws of Zambia for every Society to have a minimum of Ten (10) Office bearers.”
She stated that the new names submitted as Office Bearers in April 2021 to replace the old names were not accompanied by copies of NRCs, fingerprints and Curriculum Vitaes.
She gave the Party 21 days from 25th April 2023 in which to comply with her directives.
The Patriotic Front expressed surprise at this allegations but promptly the Secretariat re-submitted the documents confirming that it had complied. It resubmitted the details and documents showing as follows;
The Central Committee meeting which was held on Saturday, 17th April, 2021 at
the Mulungushi International Conference Centre, Lusaka resolved;
Pursuant to Article 58(k) of Party Constitution, the meeting was attended by
sixty two (62) members and formed a quorum.
It was, therefore resolved, that the following be appointed as office bearers
for the Patriotic Front Party:
- Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu
- Hon. Davies Mwila
- Mr. Ng’onga Mukupa
- Mrs. Monica Mwale Mwansa
- Mrs. Annie Nyirenda Tischer
6, Hon. Davies Chama - Hon. Mwimba Malama
- Hon. Emerine Kabanshi
9.Hon.Freedom Chomba Sikazwe - Hon. Stephen Kampyongo
These names were to replace;
- Bernadette Mvula
- Daniel Miyambo
- Ephraim Chisumbe
- John Mutekenya and
- Richard Chanda
And in responding to the Chief Registrar in a letter dated 27th April,2023, signed by Deputy Secretary General, Hon. Nixon Chilangwa, the Secretariat submitted more names for the attention of the Chief Registrar.
Besides the old names, these were added on the previous list:
- Given Lubinda
- George Chisanga
- Raphael Nakacinda
CURRENT STATUS
Following the intention to deregister the Patriotic Front on account of failure to submit details of Office Bearers and the subsequent action to comply, the Chief Registrar has not informed the Party of the changes submitted by the Patriotic Front in April 2021 and re-submitted in April 2021.
The Office Bearers remain as those reflected since 2015.
Below is the correspondence for ease of reference.
Last week, the Party sued the Registrar of Societies to compel her to release details of Office Bearers of the Patriotic Front.
This followed claims made by Hon. Miles Sampa that he had purported to have held an Extra-Ordinary General Conference. Further the Speaker of the National Assembly proceeded to make changes on the strentgh that the PF had new Office Bearers as purported by Sampa and by an alleged search conducted at the Registrar of Societies.
Following a Court Order granted by Judge Timothy Katenekwa of the Lusaka High Court, the Chief Registrar proceeded to comply with the Order of court and released the current status of the Office Bearers of the Patriotic Front.
It revealed that the changes have not been effected as shown by the current print-out certified by the bar-code.
Further after the Party held its General Conference in April 2021, their proposed changes submitted in 2021 and resubmitted in April 2023 have also not been effected.The Office Bearers remain as those reflected since 2015.
For the case of Miles Sampa, his Conference has NOT complied with the party Constitution of the PatrioticvFront and he was a suspended official at the time he purported to hold the event.
Sadly the heroic action of the Chief Registrar of Socities to comply with the Order of the Lusaka High Court and release the official documents has attracted negative consequences and she has since been removed from her office.
Subsequently we learnt of fresh attempts to commit more crimes by illegally changing the names of Office Bearers of the Patriotic Front.
For more information contact us.