Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse; The Kabushi and Kwacha Constituency Case.
There’s an important legal principle that says “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” That’s right: you can’t defend your actions by arguing you didn’t know, even if you honestly did not realize you were breaking the law.
Knowing the Law
Under our legal system, we as Zambians are expected to know what the law says even though our constitution is full of serious lacunae. But this doesn’t mean we all have to be legal experts. It’s not realistic for everyone to memorize all the laws! Not even lawyers know all this information.
The rule “ignorance of the law is no excuse” really means that people can’t defend their actions by claiming they didn’t know the law.
It would be too easy for people to break a contract, or deal illicitly if they could get away with it by arguing they didn’t know it was against the law.
From where am standing, i can tell our legal system is complicated. When people have good intentions, judges can sometimes be understanding. This would have been the case had the framers of our constitution thought through every law they desired to govern us as one people. Not laws designed to infringe on others.
Lusambo and Malanji find themselves where they are today because of the desire to create laws meant to fix others. They have been fixed.
I further find it folly and absolutely absurd that the two filed a petition before the courts of law seeking to stay the election whilst at the same time get to Kabushi and Kwacha trying to sneak themselves on the ballot. Some madness. Suffering from idiocycrancy I guess.
Lusambo and Malanji are not well-Informed on the law. They can now see how important it is to make sure to respect the law.
Vivian Mubukwanu
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