Thu, 25 May 2017 12:20:03 +0000
By CHIKUMBI KATEBE
UPND Members of Parliament have lost their bid to restrain Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini from taking action against their decision to shun Republican President Edgar Lungu’s national address to the National Assembly.
Lusaka High Court Judge Susan Wenjelani has rejected an application for judicial review by 54 UPND parliamentarians in a matter where they were challenging the decision by Dr. Matibini to reprimand them for boycotting the official opening of Parliament as it lacked merit before court.
The High Court Justice in her judgment yesterday said although the applicants had interest in the matter, the MPs had failed to convince her of an arguable case fit for further investigations.
And Justice Wenjelani has dismissed an application to commence committal proceedings against Dr. Matibini and the Clerk of the National Assembly Doris Mwinga and other Parliament officials as it also lacked merit.
The 54 MPs led by Nalikwanda MP Geoffrey Lungwangwa applied to the High Court for a restraining order against The Speaker from what they termed as infringement of their rights on the floor of the House.
Earlier, Attorney General and the Clerk of the National Assembly both argued against the case that there was no matter for consideration when the MPs already apologised for missing the Presidential opening of the 2016 National Assembly.
The respondents called for the dismissal of the application as it had been overtaken by events.
But the MPs argued that they should be allowed to undertake more boycotts without reprimand as it was an expression of their right.
