Civil Rights activist Brebner Changala says the Constitutional Court was not necessary because it has only added to more confusion in the country.

And Changala has questioned why the ConCourt takes long to deliver judgements on matters of national interest saying its torture for Zambians to remain in suspense.

Last week, the ConCourt upheld Lusaka Central PF member of parliament Margaret Mwanakatwe’s election and declared that she was duly-elected.

But in an interview with News Diggers! Changala charged that the ConCourt had become a very dangerous institution.

He wondered whether the ConCourt, which is a court of last jurisdiction, could review the ruling of the Lusaka Central seat if UPND loosing candidate Charlotte Scott appealed like in the case of ministers who were asked to pay back their salaries after being in office illegally.

“The Constitutional Court has cleared Margaret Mwanakatwe as a duly elected MP but the same court has ruled that Mwanakatwe and many others had stayed in office illegally. By staying in that office there were certain benefits that they had accrued, one of them was monetary and also privilege. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. Mwanakatwe has been cleared. And the same court told ministers who stayed in office illegally to pay and they have gone back three times to the same court and it has accepted their applications on three occasions. If anybody outside PF had gone back with a ruling like they ruled on Charlotte Scott, if they make another application asking them to revisit their ruling, will they agree? It has become an extremely dangerous institution,” Changala said.

“There is no institution that has been spared in this country in terms of confidence in our institutions of governance. Since it’s inception, the Constitutional Court hasn’t performed very well. This court might have not been necessary, it has just added on to more confusion in this country.”

And Changala wondered why the ConCourt took so long to deliver judgements on matters of national interest.

“The ruling has come and gone although a bit late. We are coming from a situation where a presidential petition was thrown out for failing to be managed within 14 days. We have a ruling which is almost two and half years in the same Constitutional court. Now if a presidential petition which is countrywide is 14 days and we have a delay of a parliamentary seat to be decided for almost two and half years, there’s a total mismatch and pure abuse of the people of Zambia. You keep them waiting in suspense that long in a matter that could have been decided in a year or within 90 days, it’s torturing the citizens. It’s not fair. Why do they torture us only to deliver something that is of no interest to anybody other than themselves?” asked Changala.

“The Constitutional Court should, especially in matters that are of personal interest, give them that urgency, not where people loose interest in a matter. We have the illegibility case of President Edgar Lungu which is taking suspiciously too long. It’s a matter of law. Why can’t they tell us? And the President has gone outside now to campaign for 2021. He has gone on campaign while the matter is in court which tells you that the executive has no regard for the Constitutional Court. So if the executive has no regard for the Constitutional Court, who am I to have any regard?”