the reliefs sought must fail as Article 52(3) ends with the word
prescribe. Further, that the word "prescribe" is defined in Article
266 to mean provided for in an Act of Parliament. Our decision in
the case of Dipak Patel v The Minister of Finance and the Attorney
General7 was cited on what is required when the Constitution
provides that something should be prescribed. Therefore, that since
there is no Act of Parliament that speaks to or brings the Electoral
Process Act into conformity with Article 52 (3), the publishing of the
statutory declaration of assets and liabilities for presidential
candidates could not be done.
[34] Mr. Muchende, SC further submitted that it was unfortunate
that Parliament has been oblivious to the provisions of section 6 (2)
of the Constitution of Zambia Act No. 1 of 2016 which requires
Parliament to set a time frame within which laws should be brought
into conformity with the Constitution as amended. He stated that
there was lack of political will by the previous administration to give
effect to Article 52 (3) and that the current administration will kick
start the process, in conjunction with the lsl Respondent, to bring
the Electoral Process Act into conformity with the constitutional
provision because they agree with the Petitioner that transparency
and accountability are very important for people to make informed
decisions.
He however added that there was nothing to suggest
chat there was a breach of the Constitution as alleged.
It was
posited that Regulation 20(2) relied upon by the Petitioner did not
speak to presidential candidates.
J15
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