The Constitutional Court has dismissed former higher education minister Dr Michael Kaingu’s appeal for the Mwandi parliamentary seat for having a defective record.

This was in a matter in which Dr Kaingu was challenging the High Court’s decision to uphold Sililo Mutaba’s election.

In their ruling on whether the appeal was properly before the court which was raised by Mutaba’s lawyer, ConCourt judges stated that they could not proceed to hear the matter because there was a big gap in the record which had been created following the expunging of evidence in question.

“We thus have no doubt that the court will be denied the benefit of considering the evidence of all the witnesses who testified at trial of the petition and to have it in perspective in determining the appeal in this matter. Therefore, in its current incomplete form, the appeal cannot be heard. We regard this defect to be fundamental defect which goes to the root of the entire appeal and is thus fatal to the appeal,” stated the ConCourt judges.

“…We hold that the appeal in this matter is incompetent as it is fundamentally defective and it cannot be properly heard or determined in its current form…the sum total is that the preliminary issues raised by the respondent succeed ton the extent reflected above. We dismiss the Appellant’s appeal in this matter.”