Chililabombwe petition: Kabuswe says a pen is as good as money, but admits he filed no complaint with ECZ

Former Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Chanda Kabuswe has closed his case in the petition challenging the election of Nsofwa Kabwe Lupele as Member of Parliament for Chililabombwe, after telling the court under cross-examination that he made no formal report of his complaints to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). The petition is being heard by Justice Lastone Mwanabo, the Judge-in-Charge of the Kitwe High Court, sitting at the Chingola Magistrate Court. Mr Kabuswe, who stood for the UPND, lost to Mr Lupele by 10,920 votes to 8,986 in the 13 August election. Mr Lupele is the first respondent and the ECZ is the second respondent. Mr Kabuswe testified as the 10th witness in his own petition. He told the court that Mr Lupele accused him of stealing copper during the campaign and gave a voter a pen as a bribe. Under cross-examination he accepted that Mr Lupele did not name him in the video evidence, saying Mr Lupele was pointing at him by innuendo. He said the pen was not money but argued that a pen is the same as money. He agreed that he had himself greeted voters at Kakoso Polling Station, the same act he criticised Mr Lupele for at Ishuko. He said the song "BAPOMPWE" means a dishonest person but denied that it referred to Mr Lupele. A defence witness had told the court the song targeted the opposition. Mr Kabuswe also accepted that he made no formal report to the ECZ Conflict Management Committee or to any ECZ officer, and that he presented no documents showing that an ECZ officer failed in their duties. His witness statement did not explain how the figures attached to it related to the official ECZ Form 19 results. He said his party supplied registers to agents at all 57 polling stations in Chililabombwe, but he did not put the register before the court. Mr Lupele is represented by Ngoma Legal Practitioners, the ECZ by George Kunda and Company, and Mr Kabuswe by Keith Mweemba and Associates. ## Why it matters An election petition asks the