DEAR Colleagues, we officially reported those masquerading as UPND leaders to the police for impersonation.
Our decision has been informed by, inter alia, the argument that we have constitutionally supported substantive office bearers.
Article (79) of the UPND constitution provides,” A Party President shall be eligible for election for an indefinite period
Office subject to this constitution provided that a Party President who is elected Republican President shall only serve two terms that shall run concurrently with the term of office as Republican President.”
Our view is that President HH’s tenure is running concurrently with that of the office of the Republican President and that the General Assembly is about choosing the President and NMC .
It is our considered view that article (79) means he is still the office bearer and hence the need for us to have reporter the matter as a matter of personation.
Further, we also informed ourselves to the fact that the party constitution has no date of the General assembly and the constitution vests such powers in the National Assembly management Committee ( NMC) as provided under article (57) of the party constitution.
Further we also opine that the time in which the last General Assembly was held was as well decided by the NMC.
Lastly, if we are to follow the strict rule of 5 years as those lopsided individuals have asserted, then we have to use the UPND anniversary month which certainly is not February.
In terms of having the General Assembly every five years , our view is that the constitution does not say “within 5 years but says “every five years “. Thus this the tenure is five years and if the General Assembly is called within five years then office bearers will be in office for less than five years .
In view of the above, we concluded that masquerades have decided to mimic office bearers with full knowledge of these provisions. Instead of having constitutional debates, we opted to deal with the matter as a crime , under criminal jurisdiction. Thus our position to report to the police.
