Mazabuka Central member of parliament Gary Nkombo says his suspension from the National Assembly is a minor setback and he will use the time to visit his constituents who are his employers.

And Nkombo has announced the adoption of Brave Nsamba as the UPND candidate for the vacant Milenge Town Council Chairmanship election.

On Tuesday, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini suspended Nkombo from parliament for 10 days on grounds that he exhibited gross misconduct against Deputy Speaker Catherine Namugala.

This followed a complaint letter from government Chief Whip Brian Mundubile who is also Mporokoso PF member of parliament, that Nkombo disrespected Namugala on the floor of the House on September 19, 2019.

But speaking during a media briefing, Wednesday, Nkombo said the House would vibrate once his suspension was over.

“Those (Mazabuka residents) are my direct employers, it was through their vote that I found myself in that parliament and not through anybody else, that is a stubborn fact. Therefore, all the concerns, all the anxieties that have come along side this suspension, I have said to people that I am first of all a big boy, I am not a small boy and I just feel sorry for the people of Mazabuka because right now their voice has been put down for the next nine days because I have served day one and there is only nine days left. And so it is a good thing they have given me a sabbatical leave. Tomorrow morning, I take a trip to visit my constituency and I will also explain to them that it’s a temporary setback. Decisions were made and for now, I think the best way to coin the summary of this decision is that we are not looking behind, we are looking forward and then come the day when my suspension is over, that Parliament will vibrate once again,” Nkombo said.

And Nkombo called on the PF to commit to violence free by elections.

“And we are hopeful that everything being equal, PF are not going to do their usual tricks of going to lure our candidates to do a disappearing act on this particular by-election. We would also like to state that in response to the several ECZ calls, we from the UPND are determined to go and showcase a violent free election in Milengi, in Mpulungu, in Lupososhi in Serenje and also in Chitambo. We are hopeful that our colleagues from PF who are normally the culprits of any skirmishes of violence to also come to the table with clean hands so that for a change we can have an election that will not be tainted with election malpractices. We also like to state through the nation to the Zambia Police, to the ECZ, that if everyone plays their part correctly, we will indeed have a violent free election so that we can show once more to the country and the world that elections are elections and not dog eat dog affair where people must do everything within their powers even if it’s out of the law to secure a win,” said Nkombo.

Nkombo announced that Brave Nsamba had been adopted to run on the UPND ticket in Milenge with party deputy chairman for local government Brian Ndumba being the election campaign manager, deputized by Matthews Songwe.