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‘WE EXPECT PROGRESSIVE LAWS’, PARLIAMENT BALANCED – SIKOTA

By GIDEON NYENDWA

THE new parliament should give Zambia good pieces of legislation because it is balanced, United Liberal Party (ULP) leader has said.

ULP leader Sakwiba Sikota said various issues that would be taken to parliament will be subjected to good debate because the opposition should have good numbers to offer proper checks and balances.

This came after the announcement of the various names for members of parliament (MP)  showing the United Party for National Development (UPND) had 83 MPs, Patriotic Front (PF) has 61,  Party of National Unity and Progress (PNUP)  one MP and  10 independent MP’s. One seat is yet to be decided in an election to be held later this year.

Mr. Sikota said it was better to have a balanced parliament because it is supposed to have checks and balances.

“It is a good parliament and it’s always better to have a balanced one,” he said.

He said both sides would need negotiations in voting on certain issues and to stop MPs from voting on party lines.

Mr. Sikota also noted that the ruling party should have sufficient numbers that will enable the government to go about their business. 

He said this parliament is different from the parliament which Zambia had in 1991 which was very unbalanced under which the ruling party had close to 120 MP’s and UNIP would not offer proper checks and balances.

“I can say they couldn’t provide proper checks and balances because the numbers were not balanced,” he said.

He said Zambians should expect good things coming from this parliament because all the people will be well represented and no issues would go unchecked because the opposition also has the numbers.

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