as Mumbi Phiri says suspension of UPND MPs constitutional

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:00:56 +0000

By SIMON MUNTEMBA

THE suspension of 48 opposition UPND Members of Parliament after the second act of misconduct was in line with the parliamentary code of conduct, says Patriotic Front (PF) Deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri.

Ms Phiri said that there was nothing wrong with the decision by Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini to suspend the MPs.

She recollected how she was suspended from Parliament for 3 months a few years back when she was a Parliamentarian.

“There is nothing sinister about the one month suspension of the UPND parliamentarians by the Speaker. I was once suspended for 3 months when I was an MP,

Speaking during the PF interactive forum on Sunday, Ms Phiri said that it was unfortunate that the opposition MPs wanted to imitate the South African Parliament were the Parliamentarians behaved anyhow when in the House to the extent of even insulting the President.

“Most People don’t even know that each parliament has its own set of rules. I will cite an example of the Zambian Parliament where when acknowledging something, they say “ya ya ya ya”, were as in Tanzania when Members of Parliament are acknowledging, they stomp their feet,

“But here in Zambia, especially when the President is on the floor of the House, that is described as a solemn time and the decorum requires you to keep quiet and listen,” said Ms Phiri.

And Ms Phiri called on PF members to remain peaceful and disciplined even under extreme provocations.

“We in the Patriotic Party do not condone violence that is why we showed those that were violent and using pangas an exit door, and unfortunately some of them were welcomed by the UPND. We are not encouraging violence because I for one I am a mother of seven,” she said

“As long as I remain the deputy secretary general and Davis Mwila as Secretary General, we will not allow pangas in PF. So we urge our party members to be disciplined and refrain from violence even in the face of extreme provocation,” Mrs Phiri said.