South FODEP condemns truant UPND lawmakers

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:27:39 +0000

 By ANDREW MUKOMA

FOUNDATION for Democratic Process (FODEP) in Livingstone has condemned opposition lawmakers for boycotting President Edgar Lungu’s national address to Parliament last Friday.

In a statement to the Daily Nation in Livingstone,

FODEP Livingstone district chairman Gideon Musonda said his organisation was ‘‘deeply concerned’’ with the conduct of UPND MPs for shunning parliament. Mr. Musonda said it was sad that the opposition MPs shunned the presidential address at a time when Zambians were expecting them to tackle issues of national development.

He said that this was a disservice to the people who voted for them to represent them in the House.

“It is unfortunate that the opposition MPs boycotted President Lungu’s address to the nation, it is a disservice to the people in their respective constituencies,” he said.

Mr Musonda said despite the condemnation and apology that the MPs made in the past, it was uncalled for and disrespectful for them to have repeated the same thing. He challenged the opposition lawmakers to be above board and start realizing why they were in Parliament by putting the country first before their political ambitions.

“MPs must put Zambia first, this is lack of respect for the presidency, which they swore allegiance to and the Constitution,” he said.

But the UPND in Livingstone district has defended the decision by its members, claiming that it was their constitutional right to stay away from President Lungu’s parliamentary address.

District spokesperson Neto Halwabala said in a statement to the media that there was nothing wrong with the decision the MPs took.

“His parliamentary address was just another political gimmick to mislead the international community demanding for justice and protection of human rights whose abuse has reached alarming levels,” he said.

“How can he (President Lungu) go to Parliament and start talking about peace and unity in the country while muzzling the media and dividing the country?

“Let him allow the (UPND presidential) petition to be heard and stop muzzling the media for the people of Zambia to take him seriously on his calls for peace and unity,”” Mr Halwabala said.