UPND MPs now face possible legal suit

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 12:57:12 +0000

By BENNIE MUDANDO

WE have given the suspended UPND MPs 48 hours in which to apologise to the people of Zambia failure to which we will institute legal proceedings against them, the Citizens Education Programmes (CEP) has warned.

CEP executive director Hendricks Nyambe said it was highly hypocritical of the UPND MPs to boycott President Edgar Lungu’s national address under the pretext that they did not recognise his presidency yet they paid homage to the Speaker of the National Assembly who was sworn in by the President.

Mr. Nyambe said by taking oath in Parliament after they were elected, they recognised that there was a functional Government in place with President Lungu as Republican President and that it was highly irresponsible of them to stay away from his address.

He challenged the MPs to resign on moral grounds if they did not want to fight legal battles with his organisation because they cheated the people of Zambia.

He said it was sad that the same MPs who participated during the vice president’s question time in Parliament and recognised her as the country’s vice president were antagonistic towards the president yet she was his running mate in the same election whose outcome they had refused to accept.

He said due to their reckless behaviour, people who voted for them will have no representation in the house for a long time.

“We have given 48 hours ultimatum to 48 suspended UPND Members of Parliament to apologise to the people of Zambia and indeed their constituencies for their behaviour in parliament where they boycotted the proceedings during a very important and serious occasion to which they were elected to represent the people,

“As rightfully put by the Speaker, there can be no National Assembly without the president who swears in the Speaker to whom the MPs take oath of office in which they pledged allegiance to the President as required article 260 of the constitution of Zambia.