KAZUNGULA District Commissioner Mary Mukwiza has nullified the election of Zambia Sugar Company corporate affairs manager Lovemore Sievu as Chief Musokotwane.

Ms Mukwiza said during a Press briefing in Livingstone yesterday the process of electing the chief was still on and would be completed on March 27.

Ms Mukwiza accused the Musokotwane Royal Establishment electoral college chairperson Robson Kagutwe of undermining the whole process before the final conclusion scheduled for March 27, 2010.

She said the final meeting where a chief-elect would be announced is on March 27 at Musokotwane Village and not any other place as suggested in the Press release attributted to Mr Kagutwe.

"I don't accept this (election) and what they have said is null and void. My worry is that the whole system was wrong and I was not informed.

"There was no election of the chief as we are still having meetings. The outcome will be from a meeting at the village on March 27 and after that the name will be presented to the Ministry of Local Government," he said.

Ms Mukwiza said the results announced by Mr Kagutwe were not final as the meeting at Cabinet Office was merely meant to know who was supporting who among the four candidates vying for the chieftainship.

The four are Eason Musokotwane, Crispin Mwiya, Hastings Sichilongo and Mr Sievu.

Ms Mukwiza said on March 27, the indunas and the ngambelazis would have to be involved in the electoral process.

Mr Kagutwe said as far as the royal establishment was concerned, what he did was the correct thing and the results came out of the elections held at Cabinet office in the presence of Ms Mukwiza, Kazungula council officials and those from the provincial local government office.

Mr Kagutwe, however, maintained the election of Mr Sievu as Chief Musokotwane was legitimate.

Mr Kagutwe said when the Musokotwane Royal Establishment electoral college held the elections, it had the right to announce the elections.

Mr Kagutwe said the only thing which the local authority was supposed to do was to sign on the minutes compiled during the elections by the royal electoral college.

He said the confirmed minutes for the elections were submitted to Kazungula council secretary Raphael Zulu for more than a month ago but up to now they had not been signed.

"I have been in touch with the council secretary for more than 10 times asking why minutes have not been signed but he has not given me any answer. That is why I went ahead and announced," he said.

When contacted, Mr Sievu said he was aware that there were varying and competing interests in such matters but said the three clans who had elected him would speak for themselves.

"There is a High Court ruling that the current processes have adhered to. One would only hope that as a country we could still have processes that are transparent and credible so that governance structures are respected. At the end of the day God will have the final say," he said