Maravi

PF MPs walk out of Parliament

PF MPs walk out of Parliament
By Lambwe Kachali and Jack Zimba
Thursday August 14, 2008 [04:00]

SOME Patriotic Front (PF) parliamentarians on Tuesday walked out of the Parliament chamber in protest against the second reading of the three Bills that seek to increase the salaries and allowances for constitutional office holders and senior government officials. Before the Bills were presented to the House for second reading, Parliament was debating the report on legal affairs, governance, human rights and gender matters.

In contributing to the debate on the report, Lusaka Central PF member of parliament Guy Scott instead raised the issue of salary and allowance increments for constitutional office holders and senior government officials but was curtailed by deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Mutale Nalumango.

"Order, we have a very specific report to debate and therefore the member on the floor should not sneak in his own topic to debate," said Nalumango.

Dr Scott and other PF members except those participating in the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) thereafter walked out of Parliament.

Outside Parliament building, party spokesperson Given Lubinda said they had decided to walk out of the Parliament chamber because their freedom of speech to debate against the hefty salary increments had been curtailed.

"Because it appears in that House we don't have freedom of speech," said Lubinda.
PF secretary general Edward Mumbi, who was also at Parliament building when the members walked out of the chamber called on all stakeholders to stop government ministers from imposing their will on the country by taking advantage of President Levy Mwanawasa's illness.

However, the Bills passed through the second reading and the third and final (committee stage) reading was expected to be concluded yesterday.

Meanwhile, ten civil society organisations and Church mother bodies described the move by the government to take the Bills to Parliament as deceitful and insensitive.
In a letter dated August 11, 2008 and addressed to Vice-President Rupiah Banda, the civil society expressed surprise that the government decided to table the Bills in Parliament when they knew that they would not be debated.

The organisations described the move as callous and selfish.The organisations that wrote the letter include Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), Caritas Zambia, and Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD), Women for Change (WfC), Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), NGOCC and Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR).

Labels: CABINET, MPs, PF

posted by MrK @ 5:53 AM