By ALICE NACHILEMBE
Rainbow Party has welcomed the Judgment by the Constitutional court in the Roan Parliamentary Seat Case in which the court over turned the decision of the Speaker Patrick Matibini to declare the Roan Seat vacant.
The court ruled out that the Speaker Dr Matibini exceeded his powers in declaring the Roan seat vacant and also that the principle of exclusive cognizance is not absolute, it applies only to internal procedural matters and could not be used by the Speaker as an excuse for breaching the constitution which power is solely vested in the judiciary.
Rainbow Party National Spokesperson Dennis Kapukulo said the party is disappointed by the failure of the constitutional court to impose appropriate sanctions against the speaker for willful breach of the Constitution.
Mr Kapukulo said it is worth noting that before becoming Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Matibini was a high court judge and of reasonable repute.
He said he is very conversant with the interpretation of the Constitution which he decided to misinterpret by declaring the seat vacant, which action is an exclusive preserve of the judiciary.
“It is this illegality, Rainbow Party is looking forward to see an appropriate sanction to be imposed on the speaker. Gross misconduct must receive equal punishment and not a reward. By failing to impose sanctions on the speaker, the Constitutional court will effectively reduce itself to an academic institution that will only issue academic judgements,” he said
Mr Kapukulo the party takes an exception view on this judgement by the Constitutional court as one not motivated by the quest to dispense justice, but rather, the entire judgement was a self-serving act.
He said it is evident to all and sundry that in this case, the court only substantively addressed the issue of the speaker usurping the powers of the judiciary itself, the court was clearly offended by this particular trespass on its territory by the speaker.
“But as Rainbow Party, this doesn’t seat well with us, as a result, we challenge the Constitutional court to implore adequate effort to issue well – reasoned judgements. For a good court judgement is supposed to help in settling controversies as opposed to being a source of controversy itself.
