Interim NDC Secretary General Bridget Atanga has asked the Lusaka High Court to dismiss the matter in which estranged SG Mwenya Musenge wants an injunction from the court, restraining Chishimba Kambwili from portraying himself as party president.

Atanga says the matter has wrongly been commenced by Musenge on behalf of the party and is therefore inherently defective.

On April 18, this year, a press briefing was held where Kambwili announced that he had officially accepted to lead NDC.

He also announced that Musenge had been dropped from the position of Secretary General to member of the central committee in charge of chiefs and traditional affairs, and that he had been replaced by Bridget Atanga.

But on May 3, Musenge sued Kambwili and Atanga in the Lusaka High Court, seeking an order nullifying all appointments that were made on April 18, as well as, an order recognizing him as the rightful Secretary General of the party.

He was also seeking for an injunction restraining Kambwili from portraying himself as party president.

However, in an affidavit in support of notice of motion to raise preliminary issues on points of law filed on May 13, Atanga stated that she had been advised by her counsel that the action had wrongly been commenced by Musenge as being for and on behalf of NDC.

She claimed that Musenge had not attended the party’s five past meetings of its interim leadership since the last four to five months and had never been authorised by the party to commence the action at all.

Atanga further stated that the claims endorsed in Musenge’s writ of summons and statement of claim were based on the contents of the draft NDC Constitution, which was not yet operative as it had not yet been adopted by the party’s congress in line with article 18 of the said draft constitution, which congress was yet to be convened.

“I’m further advised by counsel that the pleadings herein do not disclose a cause of action and cannot be amended as the entire action herein is based on the NDC draft constitution which had not yet become operational by adoption by the national party congress,” read the affidavit.

Atanga therefore asked the court to dismiss Musenge’s action for being inherently defective.