Aspiring Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Keith Mweemba, whose filed nomination was deemed invalid by the FAZ Electoral Committee, has challenged the decision.
According to the FAZ electoral committee, only incumbent President Andrew Kamanga meets the constitutional requirements to run in the March 29 election, making him the uncontested winner of the race.
Mweemba, along with Adrian Kashala, the former FAZ General Secretary, Francis Hafwiti, Machacha Shepande, Godfrey Chikumbi, Emmanuel Munaile, Alex Basopo, and Mumbo Lombe, were declared ineligible to contest for the post on different grounds ranging from using ineligible nominators and insufficient experience as outlined in the FAZ statutes according to the electoral committee chairman, Ronald Hatoongo who made the announcement on Monday at Football House.
The FC MUZA proprietor was declared ineligible due to an invalid nominator.
In an interview this afternoon when he went to Football House to collect his letter, Mweemba said declaring his nomination renders the ongoing league season illegal.
Mweemba has described the outcomes made by the Electoral Committee as a ‘laughable’ and a ‘joke of a century.’
“It is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse as a last resort to rebellion against tyranny and oppression that human rights should be protected by the rule of law. So the only answer I can give you from this quotation, which is the third premier paragraph of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is that an illegality is an illegality and no illegality should ever be tolerated,” a a furious-looking Mweemba told journalists.
“I will not comment on that decision because I want to be given a letter. So as I look at the reasons that have been advanced, I have read, of course, on social media, something which is very laughable, that since social media is not something official, maybe people who have been sending those comments on social media, maybe they have erred, so I might make a wrong comment. But just know that whatever happened yesterday is a joke of a century. And let people keep dreaming; it will never happen. It will never happen. Let them continue dreaming,” he added.
On failure to interpret the constitution requirements, Mweemba stated, “We know. I’m a lawyer with many years of practice in this country, and I know how to interpret the constitution. The FAZ constitution—you can’t equate it to the Republican constitution or to the constitutions of other countries like the United States of America. The oldest written constitution of 1787, which has got meaning on how you interpret it. The constitution interpretation has got various principles.
“So, if people think that they can play games and fix others, let them continue dreaming. I don’t know where they live. Do they live in the Republic of Zambia, where there are law with the constitution as a supreme law? We’ll comment or give you a comprehensive comment when we get there. For now, I don’t want to comment prematurely when I have not been advanced with the real reasons for the decision that was taken.”
He has charged that declaring his nomination illegal means his club is running illegally, including all the clubs that are participating in the illegality.
“How can it be invalid? If my nomination is invalid, then it means even the league that is going on now is invalid. Then it means all the clubs that are participating, then everything is illegal. It means even the club licensing is a joke. It’s a total joke,” Mweemba said.
