Patriot Front national chairman Davies Chama has said that PF members of parliament will move a motion to impeach President Hakainde Hichilema if the current Head of State and the UPND government proceed to sell the Gulfstream jet that was procured during the Edgar Lungu led PF regime.
Speaking during an interview, Chama explained that it will be unconstitutional for President Hichilema and his Cabinet to sell the Gulfstream jet, saying that the UPND administration would be breaching the law by selling the said aircraft without adherence to Constitutional issues that the Head of State had sworn to preserve and protect.
“It’s not about me being a former Defence Minister but it is the issue of Constitutionality. The Republican Constitution under Article 210(10) clearly prescribes how state assets or public assets are supposed to be disposed off. And during his inauguration in Heroes Stadium, the current President did swear that he is going to preserve and protect the Republican Constitution. He also pledged to promote the rule of law,” Chama said. “So by virtue of not adhering to the provisions of the law and the supreme law of the land, which is the Constitution, President Hakainde Hichilema will be committing an illegality. And definitely the Patriot Front members of parliament will soon be moving a motion to impeach the Head of State for abrogating the Constitution. So whatever they are trying to do is illegal because that jet does not belong to President Hakainde Hichilema, but it is a state asset. Already here in the Southern African region we have an impeachmentt process that has been commenced against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for alleged breach of the Constitution in that country. So there’s nothing that would stop PF members of parliament from taking a similar route.”
But reminded that the UPND administration is contemplating to sell the Gulfstream jet because it is alleged that it was fraudulently procured by the Edgar Lungu PF-administration in which Chama served as Defence minister, Chama, said that the Patriot Front government followed all the laid down procedures, and that is why the UPND administration is “failing to move on supersonic speed to pursue people that might have been involved in the procurement of the said Gulfstream jet.
“Do you know these UPND fellas very well? If there were any irregularities in the procurement of that state asset, the UPND government would have moved at a supersonic speed to pursue this matter. But they have realised that the PF followed all legal proceedures where adherence to the procurement process of the Gulfstream jet,” said Chama.
He said that if President Hichilema is not comfortable with the usage of the Gulfstream jet, he should not sell it but leave it for usage by his successive Heads of State.