Lusaka lawyer Kelvin Bwalya Fube, popularly known as KBF, says the provincial executive committee has got no mandate to suspend or expel any member of the party.

And KBF says it is not an offence to declare interest in contesting the party presidency at the 2020 PF general convention because it is his democratic right.

Meanwhile, KBF, in a letter of response to his purported suspension from PF, has insisted that he will go ahead and submit his candidature letter for the general conference to the secretary general of the party.

“Sir, the reference of your letter is titled ‘expulsion from the party.’ Again, with the greatest respect, pursuant to Article 74 as read with regulation 30 (vi) the provincial disciplinary committee can mete out the following sanction: simple warning or caution; written reprimand; demotion in office of the party; and suspension from office in the party for not more than one year. Further, regulation 32 vests powers of confirmation all suspensions and expulsions of members from the party only in the Central Committee. The provincial disciplinary committee, therefore, has no jurisdiction to expel me or any other member of the party,” KBF stated in a letter addressed to PF Lusaka province acting chairman Paul Moonga.

He advised Moonga not to use emotions when taking disciplinary action against party members.

“Mr acting provincial chairman, in legal administration of any disciplinary action, you must be clear about what you want and state the rule or regulation that you rely on in taking any administration action. Asking me to appear before your disciplinary committee on the 9th May, 2019, at 10:00 hours is not based on any regulation. Disciplinary procedures, sir, cannot be rushed based on your emotional feelings towards me. I am sorry; I did not appear because I could not as alluded to earlier. Yet, for the record, I was still not going to appear even if I was in town because you cannot ask me to exculpate myself within seven days only to short circuit the procedure by insisting on me appearing within two days. This is wrong! Let us learn to follow procedure correctly,” Fube argued.

And Fube insisted that he would go ahead and submit his candidature for the PF party presidency to secretary general Davies Mwila at the appropriate time.

“With regard to the purported offences that the provincial disciplinary committee has levelled against me, my response is as follows; Reg. 29 (c) the Patriotic Front is a democratic party. My declaring my intentions to run for the office of the party president at our national convention is not an offence; it is an exercise of my democratic right as enshrined in Article 52 of the party constitution. And I will submit my candidature to the secretary general of my intention to stand ‘not less than one day before the date of the conference.’ My talking about it now is neither illegal nor wrong. You cannot legislate against ambition,” stated Fube.