Kateka: UPND’s Fear Of Petition Is Shocking

Kateka, Katuta Demand Explanations As Courts Branded “Crime Scenes” During Petition Window New Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka says the fear of a presidential election petition being exhibited by the United Party for National Development government is shocking,…

Kateka, Katuta Demand Explanations As Courts Branded “Crime Scenes” During Petition Window

New Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka says the fear of a presidential election petition being exhibited by the United Party for National Development government is shocking, accusing authorities of deliberately obstructing a constitutional process by closing the very court premises where the petition was to be submitted.

In an interview, Kateka said government’s impunity and apparent fear of the petition had reached the point where the judiciary was instructed to close court premises altogether. She said the sequence of events, first soldiers stationed at the courts for several days, and now the courts themselves closed, meant the petition simply could not be submitted through ordinary channels.

“We are really shocked by the United Party for National Development government’s phobia of the presidential election petition,” Kateka said, describing petitioning as a constitutional right and questioning why authorities would move to close court premises if they had nothing to fear from the process. She said the government’s conduct in this instance amounted to abrogating the Constitution and proved that those in power do not respect the rule of law.

Kateka argued that allowing the petition to proceed would in fact be the best way to legitimise the election outcome, since courts provide the proper forum to prove a victory was legitimately won. She said the refusal to allow that process to unfold as normal suggested government itself was uncertain about what scrutiny might reveal, and that Zambians deserved to know what was happening to their constitutional rights.

Separately, losing independent presidential candidate Given Katuta has demanded government accountability for the classification of key public institutions, including multiple High Court buildings, as crime scenes. Her demand follows the designation of High Court premises in Lusaka, Ndola, Livingstone, Kitwe, Chipata, Kabwe and Kasama as crime scenes, a classification that forced them to shut their doors to the public nationwide.

Katuta said it was shocking that all High Court buildings across the country had been described in this way, questioning openly what sort of crime could plausibly have occurred simultaneously at so many separate institutions. In a statement, she noted that according to the yellow “crime scene” tape surrounding them, the High Court and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security headquarters had now been declared crime scenes.

Katuta pointed to Zambia’s 35-year record of democratic governance since 1991, during which citizens had consistently held their leaders accountable for decisions affecting them, and questioned why that culture of accountability appeared to be shifting under the current administration. She said public institutions belong to the people of Zambia and demanded that government urgently inform the nation of what was actually taking place.

She further urged those in leadership to recognise that Zambians have the right to know what is happening in their country, particularly where a matter involves a public institution central to a live constitutional process. Both Kateka and Katuta’s interventions add third-party political voices, distinct from Mundubile’s own camp, to the mounting chorus of concern over the timing and justification of the court closures.