By Deeleslie Mondoka
CAN A PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE JUST WAKE UP AND SAY, “I’M OUT”?
Picture this:
A long-distance bus from Lusaka to Mbala is packed to the roof. Passengers have squeezed in with mealie-meal, chickens, & enough luggage to start a small market.
The driver & the conductor climb aboard together. The engine roars to life.
Just before the bus leaves the station, the conductor grabs the microphone.
“My fellow passengers,” he announces, “after careful consultation with my family, my pastor, three neighbours, & two WhatsApp groups… I have decided to step down.”
Then he jumps off the bus.
The passengers stare in disbelief.
One old man mutters, “Ba conductor, this isn’t a football match where you’re asking for a substitution.”
That, in simple terms, is the constitutional question Zambia’s Constitutional Court had to answer.
Can a presidential running mate simply wake up one morning, hold a press conference, & announce, “I’ve resigned from the ticket”?
The Court’s answer was short & sharp:
No.
Why?
Because the Constitution is not like Soweto Market, where you bargain until you get the answer you want. It is a rulebook. And the rulebook specifically says a presidential candidate may resign after being nominated. But when it comes to a running mate, the Constitution says nothing.
And judges are not tailors. They cannot stitch new words into the Constitution simply because someone wishes they were there.
The Court explained that a presidential candidate & a running mate are one constitutional team. They are nominated together, presented to voters together, & elected together.
In other words, a presidential candidate & a running mate are one constitutional ticket. They are sold to voters as one package, just like nshima & relish. You cannot proudly order the meal, eat the relish, then announce halfway through, “I’ve resigned from the nshima.”
Unless something beyond human control, such as death happens that team is expected to stay together until polling day.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ORDINARY CITIZENS?
It means our elections are governed by law, not by surprise press conferences or political mood swings. Constitutional rules cannot change because someone suddenly develops election-season cold feet.
The moral of the story?
Before agreeing to become a presidential running mate, think twice. In Zambia’s Constitution, joining the ticket is not like boarding a minibus where you can bang the roof & shout, “Driver! Pa corner ni seluka!” whenever you’ve changed your mind. Once you’ve boarded the constitutional bus, the law expects you to stay on the journey until the destination.
Disclaimer:
My commentary on this decision is no more a legal critique than a campfire tale is a treatise on thermodynamics. It is, rather, a dramatized retelling, a lively reenactment if you will, of the judicial clash, unburdened by the solemn drudgery of analysis & delivered with the unapologetic zest of a storyteller who knows a good duel when he sees one.
