State House orders police, Registrar of Societies to…
BLOCK SANGWA’S PARTY
By Mast Reporter
SENIOR officials at the Registrar of Societies have complained that they are working under intense pressure not to register John Sangwa’s Movement for National Renewal (MNR) as a political party.
But Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security principal public relations officer Mwala Kalaluka said there were no such instructions, saying the Registrar of Societies works within the confines of the law.
In unsolicited interviews with The Mast at the weekend, the senior officials at the Registrar of Societies office, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal and dismissal, said workers were working under duress to make illegal decisions.
“We are working under duress because we have been ordered by State House to frustrate and even prevent the registration of John Sangwa’s Movement for National Renewal (MNR) as a political party,” one source said last Friday.
According to the sources, State House allegedly instructed the Zambia Police Service and the Registrar of Societies to do everything possible to prevent Sangwa from transforming his movement into a registered society.
“Kaya monga bayopa cani bantu aba [we do not know what these people are afraid of]. Even before Ba Sangwa and his team submitted their documents, we were given clear instructions by State House that we should frustrate the registration of the new party. So, when the MNR officials came to the Registrar of Societies on Monday, March 23, at around 10:00 hours, we just implemented the orders received. There were about 10 of them, plus two lawyers. They went into a meeting with the acting Chief Registrar of Societies, Mr Jason Mwambazi, and said they had come to register a party,” the source, who attended the meeting said.
“We asked them to show us the documents they had come with. After they did, we said that the documents were inadequate and gave them a fresh list of requirements. But we just wanted to frustrate them because we are working under duress to block the registration of their party.”
The sources said the MNR officials challenged the list the acting Chief Registrar gave them, arguing that most of the things being requested by the Registrar’s office were not provided for in the Societies Act.
“They came with many correct documents, but we told them that they needed to submit about 10 things. This includes finger prints certificates for the office bearers from the police and copies of their NRCs; an application form that has been endorsed by the police and the council secretary or what we call Form S.O.I; a recommendation letter from the line ministry and in our case the Electoral Commission of Zambia; endorsement of the application by the police and the council secretary; a party symbol approved by ECZ; a confirmation that none of the office bearers belongs to any political party; detailed CVs of the office bearers with traceable references; copies of the constitution and an application fee. At first, the MNR officials led by Mr Haydn Kapandula refused saying that what we were asking them to provide is not part of the legal requirements specified in the Act. We told them that if they want to argue, they can do so, but will only delay themselves because we would never work on an incomplete application,” the source said.
The source said, however, Sangwa’s representatives complied with all the requirements over the course of the next few days.
“After some time, the MNR people cooperated with us. It’s like they realised that we were just trying to frustrate them. They were moving so fast that at one time we had to ask Mr Mwambazi to absent himself from the office, but the MNR people just waited. In the end, they submitted all the required documents and had their fingerprints lifted. The problem now was what excuse to tell them. So, we consulted our bosses who told us that we should ask ba Sangwa’s people to seek clearance for the registration of their party from the Police IG,” a source said.
And officers at police Force Headquarters confirmed having dealt with Sangwa’s team, whom they frustrated during the finger prints clearance.
“At first, the people from the party of State Counsel Sangwa went to Kabwata Police Station for fingerprints clearance, where they were told that the exercise could only be done here at Central Police [Station]. When they came, we all found reason to avoid them because we had received clear instructions from above that we should not be quick to process their applications related to the registration process of their party,” the source at Force Headquarters said.
The source said after a day or two, they uplifted the fingerprints of 10 office bearers, while advising them to apply to the Inspector General of Police Graphel Musamba for administrative clearance.
“We told them that if the IG clears them, he will issue them a letter that they will need to take to the officer-in-charge and the council secretary for endorsement of the application form, which they can then submit to the Registrar of Societies to complete the application,” one of the officers said.
