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Zambian history is not complete without Nabulyato, says Amusaa

Zambian history is not complete without Nabulyato, says Amusaa
By Namakau Nalumango
Sunday May 04, 2008 [04:00]

DR Robinson Nabulyato shaped the Zambian Parliament into a true people’s Parliament, Speaker of the National Assembly Amusa Mwanamwambwa has said. Speaker Mwanamwambwa said this on Friday evening during the launch of the book titled African Realities: A memoir written by the late speaker Dr Nabulyato. Speaker Mwanamwambwa said the late Dr Nabulyato not only allowed serious and constructive criticism of the government policies by backbenchers but also protected the members’ right to speak freely in the House.

“Dr Nabulyato distinguished himself as a firm, resolute and principled defender of the tenets of parliamentary democracy, even during the adversities of the one party state, earning himself the appropriate title of ‘Mr. discipline’,” he said.

Speaker Mwanamwambwa observed that the political history of Zambia and especially the history of the Zambian Parliament could not be complete without a chapter on the role and contribution of Dr Nabulyato.

He said it was in that respect that the publication of Dr Nabulyato memoir at this time was more than welcome.

as a long serving Speaker of the National Assembly. His autobiography is therefore, a treasure of immeasurable hUNIP president Tilyenji Kaunda said that he is firmly anchored in the leadership of the party.istorical proportions which puts on permanent record events of our legislature from its inception for the sake of posterity,” he said.
Speaker Mwanamwambwa noted that African parliaments were generally not visible in the body of literature about the continent’s politics.

He said the book African realities in that respect filled that gap that had been “yawning in the historiography of Zambia”.

“This is a special day in the history of this nation because the launch of Dr Nabulyato’s autobiography comes at the time when Zambia, through the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), is seeking to produce a constitution that will stand the test of time,” he observed.

And Dr Nabulyato’s son Godfrey said the idea to write the book came about through continued requests from friends, relatives and colleagues to record his experiences in the struggle and contribution to independence of Zambia.

He said Dr Nabulyato started writing and putting his experiences to paper in his later years as Speaker of the National Assembly.

“His experiences as recorded in the book spans from his early childhood through teaching in the 1940s to 1998 when he retired as Speaker.

Dr Nabulyato was from 1954 to 1958 a member of the legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia.

He was elected Speaker of the National Assembly in 1969 and served as such from 1969 to 1988 when he was retired.

At the dawn of multi-party politics in 1991, Dr Nabulyato was recalled from retirement to serve another term as Speaker from that year to 1998.

His return marked the fact that Dr Nabulyato occupied the seat of the Speaker in all of Zambia’s three republics since 1969.

Labels: AMUSA MWANAMWAMBA, PARLIAMENT, ROBINSON NABULYATO

posted by MrK @ 5:24 AM