By NOEL IYOMBWA
THE UPND Alliance has rubbished reports that it is not happy with the election of Nelly Mutti as Speaker of the National Assembly because its preferred choice was sidelined.
“As Alliance partners we have never at any time had any interest in the issue of appointing the Speaker of the National Assembly,” UPND Alliance spokesperson Leslie Chikuse said.
Mr Chikuse said that the story is neither here nor there because it is the responsibility of members of parliament to vote for the Speaker.
He said that the alliance has not received any complaints from any partners regarding the matter and that all are happy that for the first time, the country has a female Speaker who is qualified.
“We don’t know what that means because for us alliance partners we have never at any time taken any interest with regards to the issue of the Speaker of the National Assembly. The story is neither here nor there but it is possible because we have different alliance partners at branch level and every person has the right to a preferred candidate,” he said.
He was reacting to reports that the UPND Alliance partners had a preferred candidate who was not picked.
