INDEPENDENT Lundazi Central Member of Parliament Lawrence Nyirenda who has been dragged to the Constitutional Court for allegedly not having a full Grade 12 certificate, has asked the court to dismiss the case with costs on grounds that the matter was in a wrong court.

This is in a case in which losing candidate in the 2016 Lundazi parliamentary elections Bizwayo Nkunika has petitioned the Constitutional Court to declare the parliamentary seat vacant, alleging that the current Independent MP does not hold a full Grade 12 certificate.

Mr Nkunika also cited the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), claiming that ECZ contravened article 70 and 73 of the Constitution when it allowed Mr Nyirenda to contest the Lundazi Central seat without meeting the minimum qualifications.

He demanded that the ECZ holds elections within 90 days.

But Mr Nyirenda in his response, raised a preliminary issue stating that Mr Nkunika should have filed in his petition within 7 days after the general elections and not more than two years later.

“I’m advised that this court has no jurisdiction to determine this petition as it is brought outside the stipulated time and also that it has been brought wrongly before a wrong court” Mr Nyirenda stated.

Mr Nyirenda said Mr Nkunika indirectly sought to challenge his election two years after he was ushered into office.

And the ECZ argued that it was clear from Mr Nkunika’s reliefs that he was challenging Mr Nyirenda’s election.

ECZ argued that the court should dismiss the petition because ‘the doctrine of equity cannot assist a petitioner who seeks redress out of time as equity does not assist the indolent’.