KABUSHI PF member of parliament Bowman Lusambo says Parliamentarians will have to impeach Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti if she doesn’t resign because she is not fit for the job.
And Chinsali PF member of parliament Kalalwe Mukosa says Speaker Mutti should endeavour to consult widely before making decisions.
Commenting on the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the nine PF MPs who were suspended from Parliament by the Speaker after the nullification of their seats should continue being part of the House, pending determination of their appeals, Lusambo said Speaker Mutti should resign and concentrate on other things.
“She ignored the Constitution of our country, on that score, that Speaker should not even sit in that House because she has no moral right to start presiding over the House which respects the rule of law. The House which respects the Constitution, the House which respects the democracy of our country, because she is not morally right to preside over that House,” he said.
“That lady as an individual, let her just resign on moral grounds so that she can concentrate on other things, because she has lost integrity and she is not fit to be Speaker. If she won’t go, definitely as Parliamentarians we just have to impeach her. As Parliamentarians we just have to impeach her because our job is to protect democracy and defend the Constitution, if one of us tried to destroy, to assault the Constitution, to destroy democracy in our country then he or she is not fit to be in that House.”
He said the people of Kabushi were excited to see him back in the House.
“I cannot be excited with something that is destroying democracy and assaulting the Constitution of the country. I wasn’t excited, I was very upset actually. The decision was an attempt to destroy democracy and also to assault the Constitution of our country which all of us have to protect. Back in Parliament we will continue representing our people, defending the Constitution and defending our democracy. The people of Kabushi are very happy, they were disturbed, starved and they are very excited. The people of Kabushi don’t want to see the Speaker in Kabushi,” said Lusambo.
And Mukosa said Speaker Mutti should endeavour to consult widely before making rulings.
“The Judgement is a fair judgement and I would like to commend the Judiciary for their objectivity in the way they handled the case. Because the action by the Speaker did not just depart from the precedence, but it was also depriving my constituency of representation and this representation will not be gained back. So, it is a victory for democracy. The Judiciary has really helped us to protect and defend our democracy because the actions that were taken by the Speaker were not in order. My advice to the Office of the Speaker is that she should always endeavour to consult widely and not rush into making decisions and rulings that are of serious nature. For example, institutions like Parliament have people who are educated, who have a lot of experience, so all that is needed [is] to consult them widely,” said Mukosa.