President Edgar Lungu will this Friday address Parliament on the application of national values and principles.

And President Lungu says the PF is ready to contest the Chilanga parliamentary seat.

Meanwhile, former Chilanga UPND member of parliament Keith Mukata has asked Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini to reverse his decision to declare the seat vacant saying his appeal means the conviction has been stayed.

According to a statement issued to ZANIS by the Clerk of the National Assembly Cecilia Mbewe, President Edgar Lungu’s State of the Nation Address will begin at 9:30 hours.

And President Lungu told journalists upon arrival from South Africa that the PF was ready to contest the Chilanga parliamentary seat.

“Chilanga, just like all those other available seats, we are able to contest after all, Zambia is my constituency as President and I am making sure that we are on the ground,” President Lungu said.

Asked if he felt the Speaker was in order to declare the seat vacant, President Lungu said he would rather stick to his lane by performing his executive functions.

“Read the Constitution for yourself and then you will assess wether the Speaker was right or not. But for me, given the sensitivity of these matters, I would rather stick to my lane which is the executive functions of government which I am doing now,” said President Lungu.

“Those matters lie in the jurisdiction of Mr Speaker so we let him exercise his authority and if there are issues to be discussed between me and the Judiciary and the Executive, we know how we handle them but otherwise I think he is the Speaker and the law is there and I think we just have to respect the separation of power between the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature.”

Meanwhile, Mukata, through his lawyer Milner Katolo, asked Speaker Matibini to reverse his decision to declare his seat vacant.

Katolo said the judgement that found Mukata guilty of murder could not be executed following his appeal to the Court of Appeals.

He said as things stand, Mukata was not serving any prison sentence and wondered why Speaker Matibini wrote to the Electoral Commission of Zambia informing him of a vacancy in Chilanga Constituency.

Katolo said if Speaker Matibini did not reverse his decision, Mukata would challenge it in the Constitutional Court.