Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili has applied to join the matter in which PF Secretary General Davies Mwila has sued the Speaker of the National Assembly in the Lusaka High Court for refusing to declare the Roan seat vacant.

Kambwili has applied to join proceedings as an interested party.

In an affidavit in support of ex parte summons for an application for joinder filed on January 9, Kambwili asked the court to join him to the proceedings, saying any decision made in respect of the proceedings would directly affect him and his rights as MP for Roan constituency.

“Since the the subject of these proceedings is whether or not the Roan constituency seat could be declared vacant, I should duly be made party to the same and I have an opportunity to be heard. That any decision made in respect of these proceedings will directly affect me and my rights and interests as MP of the Roan constituency,” Kambwili stated.

He stated that none of the parties would be prejudiced by him being joined to the proceedings.

“I verily believe that this is a proper case for me to be joined to proceedings. None of the parties will be prejudiced by my being joined to these proceedings as it is in the interest of justice and will bring finality to the same as all interested parties will be heard in respect of the same once and for all,” added Kambwili.

In this matter, Mwila had applied for judicial review over the refusal by the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini to declare Kambwili’s Roan constituency seat vacant.

He had stated in an affidavit in support of an application for leave to commence judicial review that the decision by the Speaker to refuse to declare the Roan constituency seat vacant was illegal as it violates Article 72 of the Constitution.

He cited the Attorney General as the respondent seeking the following reliefs: a declaration that there is no suit on the part of Kambwili for Roan constituency pending before the High Court to challenge his expulsion; an order of certiorari, removing the decision of the Speaker to declare the Roan seat vacant; and costs.

The grounds on which Mwila is seeking the reliefs are that: the decision of the Speaker to refuse to declare the Roan seat vacant is illegal as it is in contravention of Article 27 of the Constitution and; that the decision of the Speaker to refuse to declare the seat vacant in order to give the Courts latitude to deal with the matters conclusively, is unreasonable and illegal as it amounts to use of discretion that the Speaker does not possess.