State House says there was no impropriety in President Edgar Lungu signing a sovereign agreement used to raise emergency financing for power imports by Zesco in the run up to the 2016 general election.
Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda says President Lungu signed the agreement at the time because there was No cabinet in place and he was the only elected official who could lawfully discharge the functions of Cabinet.
Mr Chanda says at the time of the signing of the agreement, cabinet had been nullified.
He said this in a press statement that a story carried in the Monday May 21,st 2018 edition of the News Diggers alleging that there was impropriety in the signing of the agreement is misconstrued and can Not be used as the reason upon which a fair reaction can be based.
Mr Chanda has further said after stressing compelling reasons why President Lungu signed the agreement to the reporter, the News Diggers on Tuesday,22nd May2018 again re-published a segment of the same interview but basing it on a different subject matter.
He has clarified that at the time of the signing of the sovereign guarantee, President Lungu took extra caution Not to allow the Minister of Finance to append his signature because State house knew there would be a decision in the Constitutional Court for or against ministers remaining in office after dissolving of Parliament.
Mr Chanda says State House Did Not know of the content of the decision but knew of the decision date and the possible outcome of either affirming ministers to remain in office or nullifying their stay.
He adds that it does not follow that State House knew of the content of the decision.
