GOVERNMENT Chief Whip Stafford Mulusa says it is laughable that PF plans to challenge the suspension of 30 of its members of parliament in court when they misbehaved.

Commenting on remarks by PF acting national chairperson Davies Chama that Parliament had become a circus and an embarrassment because people who were appointed to lead it didn’t know what they were doing, Mulusa said PF MPs went against the rules of Parliament and threatened the authority of the Speaker.

“Davies Chama should be ignored by well meaning Zambians. Chama himself was a defence minister at the same time MP, he knows that if there is an institution that is very strict in terms of conduct of its members, it is the National Assembly of Zambia. So Davies Chama should also remember that 48 members of UPND including myself were given 30 days by just not attending the national address of the then president Edgar Chagwa Lungu,” he said.

“When you come to the facts on the ground, why our friends are out of Parliament for 30 days, it is actually misbehaviour. It is total misbehaviour against our own rules of the House. Parliament is very flexible, they allow us to protest and one of the best ways to protest in Parliament is to walk out, you are allowed. But where you go to threaten the authority of the Speaker, coming closer to the mace there, that is very bad. PF knew that was coming, including the Leader of the Opposition who led the team.”

He said the 30 day-suspension was a good punishment so that the MPs won’t repeat the action in future.

“So we are law abiding and we are a government of laws and PF were expecting that. It is about their behaviour, the way they acted, I think the Speaker was on firm ground. The 30 days for them was a good punishment so that they won’t repeat the same in future. So Davies, I think he did not read the standing orders the time he was in Parliament. He is acting out of ignorance of the rules of Parliament and how Parliament is managed. So, I know the honourable members from PF knew that was the punishment coming because it was the same with the UPND. You see we could have contested that,” Mulusa said.

Mulusa said it was laughable that the PF wanted to challenge the decision in court when Parliament had its own rules.

“It is also laughable that the members would decide to go to court the way they were talking. We are just laughing because you see Parliament has got its own rules that are supposed to be followed. Them going to court is a waste of time. They should just serve the 30 days and come back to Parliament. That is how it goes. That is how Parliament runs. We need to ignore Davies Chama. He should be crying over the loss because up to now he hasn’t gotten to terms that they lost power. Whatever happens, they are not being objective, they are referring everything to their loss. So they can say anything, it is like someone crying at the funeral, you can’t control them. That is what PF is now. So let them cry, whether it will take them three years, two years they will still cry and wake up to find themselves out of government because of what they did to the people of Zambia,” said Mulusa.

“Right now, I think we are on the right track and every branch of government is running very independently. People are happy, they are free. Just yesterday we had all the leaders of political parties, the former presidents mingling at the funeral ceremony of the late president, Rupiah Banda. If it was under their rule some of us would have been watching on the televisions with the police outside. This is the change that the people of Zambia wanted. Really we are free and we are a government that [follows] the rule of law. All the principles of democratic tenets are being held under this government.”