The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) says suggestions to increase parliamentary seats should only be entertain with regard to rural constituencies.
CPD Executive Director Neo Simutanyi has challenged government to consider increasing parliamentary seats for rural constituencies only for effective implementation of developmental projects in rural districts.
Dr. Simutanyi charged that many rural constituencies in the country have been under developed because they are too vast for one Member of Parliaments (MP) to handle compared to those in urban areas.
He was reacting to proposals by the National Constitution making Conference (NCC)’s legislative committee that seats for Members of Parliament should be increased from the current 150 to 250 of which 200 must be elected, 40 from interest groups and 10 should be nominated.
Dr. Simutanyi told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today, people in rural areas need more representation, adding that they face different problems that would need the attention of their area MPs.
He explained that the role of MPs is to effectively represent the electorates and bring development to their constituencies and consequently develop the whole nation therefore increasing parliamentary seats should only apply to rural areas.
Dr. Simutanyi added that government and other political parties in the country should ensure that their elected law makers deliver to the public by establishing close working relationship with people who voted for them.
He noted that it is for this reason that government during the 2011 general elections should consider reducing the number of urban MPs where as those of rural should be increased.
Dr. Simutanyi, who is also a political analyst, has observed that urban constituencies despite been developed has continued to have a large number of MPs.
He cited Lusaka and Copperbelt as some of the provinces which should have the number of parliamentarians reduced.
He further urged MPs to ensure that during parliamentary debates they concentrate more on issues that affect their constituencies and deliver on the promises they made during campaigns.
ZANIS/MM/AM/ENDS.
No trouble at all…l-)
What so RB can have even more votes Mr Simutanyi?
**==
its all the same!!
Ok!
#2 Sony Eric, hallo my brother.
That’s what happens when you let the aged & weary rule over the young & dynamic.
Ok. Sounds reasonable 😕
Congrats Chale! Munafaka speed lelo!
Nine Chale how is it bro!! Did you get my Mail on how to grab Music from youtube? Let me know if you need a tutorial..:-w
#8 Jamaco, I’m good bro. Thanks a lot, yes I got it. I just haven’t found time to install it yet. I will call you when I need more help.
Cheerio:)
Do we even need more MPs? If I had my way I would abolish the parliamentary system and establish a system that is much more decentralised (a semblance of a federal system, but not entirely) and easier to run. Both fiscal and adminstrative power would then have to be executed locally, combined with quarterly reporting to the central level. The central level however must be lean! Abash more MPs and the general parliamentary system, as all they do is chow our tax money and abuse us! [-(
I think the suggestion to reduce number of MP’s in Lusaka and copperbelt is tryng to favour the ruling party cov the know that any opposition party that will come by will oways be strong in the said areas.
By the way, on Banda’s wife ,i wasn’t happy with the way u ladies wer talking to each other, pliz this is 2009 lets respect each other, us guys ar diifferent we dont gun each other like that
Just look at the costs:
a) Vehicle (which they don’t pay back) = USD60,000;
b) Other loans (same as above) = USD50 – 100,000;
c) Transportation to and fro constituencies
(since most are not local) = USD6,000+ (est. USD500 per month);
d) Accommodation and stipend = +-USD20,000 per annum;
etc
These are guestimates, but one needs to do a thorough analysis to see how much these so called leaders cost. We do not have an endless pit of money people. We could use it wisely
:((
Neo Simutanyi has nothing to talk about. If anything,i think the opposite should be proposed.
Iwe mdala wayamba kuitaya!How many people are in the rural areas?Obvious you got your statistics from the just ended rigged elections.Maybe you’re looking for job from RB.
To close with,dont cheat people with your fake stats!Q
Forget naimwe ba Dr
Mps should spend and have offices in their constituences not in parliament motels so that they must be answerable to their voters,i think in the urban areas land is developed compared to rural areas,so increase mps and encourage people to invest there,thats how pipo can go back to the land. l-)l-)
Zambian MP’s are a collective failure. Blotting then more will be a drain on resources as #12 tabulated.What justification is there to increase their number because when in session or recess we do not see the difference. There is no results to show their hard work! Infact we dont need them. They have no spine and always wait for party directives on what to do, how to vote hence irrelevant.If they are progressive & what to work independent of their party, they are chased from the party. Zed MP’s a circus
katwishi
What difference does it make.You and I both know that all MPs live in urban areas despite where they were voted.Go and research further Doc!!
this is another of the misplaced ideas. This guy is pro-MMD and he knows the time is running fast on MMD. As such he wants where it is easy for MMD to manipulate the votes, they have MMD more seats and ensure MMD keeps ruling this nation. Why is he agitating for reduced MPs along the line of rail. What we need is to put into place a system that makes MPs have fully fledged and manned offices and compel these MPs when not at parliament to be in the offices meeting and attending to the problems and aspirations of those that put them into office. Not the current situation where when not at parliament MPs are busy entertaining their girlfriends and prostitutes.
This is even a worse suggestion really. You do not need an MP to institute developmental projects. With a population of 10-12million and the number of MPs we have the ratio does not add up really especially that we have places which these so called MPs do not even reach and are “literally cut off”.
We are talking about a ratio of 1 MP to 72 000 people (roughly). People are concentrated along the line of rail. Reduce the number of constituences on the CB and LSK and increase those in the rural areas simply because they are a bit more scattered.
Then increase the number of people on the ground. Less gratuity, cars to buy for them and allowances.
Setting priorities right.:d:d:d
Simutanyi ni ka MMD cadre :-j
#1-20
You are talking sense!Continue debating! as for me , am too hungry! i cant even think right!
3RqU
#23 includes you papa
“CPD Executive Director Neo Simutanyi has challenged government to consider increasing parliamentary seats for rural constituencies only for effective implementation of developmental projects in rural districts.”
Sense! Someone indicated that we should reduce our MPs from 150 to 72 conform with the number of 72 Districts that Zambia has as in one MP for one Districts. There is a lot of sense in this idea and maybe VJ’s idea can be incorporated to make sure that we only have 100 MPs by allowing the President to continue appointing 8 MPs with 20 MPs being brought in from various interet groups.
===
LT 2008 Award Winner. =; for Zambia in 2011.
Continued from 20
What can bring development is not the number of MPs, but rather frugal, mature, serious and patriotic distribution of resources for national development. How do you expect Kwa Nabwalya to develop, when the annual budgetary allocation for that area year in and out is equal to the monthly salary of a president.
If we are serious with our resources even 1 MP for per province can do and development can reach the intended targets. It will mean less red tape and more resources for development than for allowances and pay for the so many useless MPs, whose only preoccupation is saying hear hear hear over the 5 years in parliament.
Oops #21. should have been increasing the number of MPs! Yes I agree but we do not need MPs to institute developmental projects. Thats what you get when you are blogging and working.
:d:d
DR simutanyi,excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent excerllent
I actually have no problem with increasing representation in parliament, some constituencies are so vast that the people have even been forgoten. we need MPs from amoungest such people living in areas with no access roads, electricity and running water thats the only way those places will open up. People have mentioned issues of resources, i can assure you nothing in this world was ever done without money.More constituencies mean more parliamentary offices in those areas. Imagine how can lusaka district a den of ministers full of permanent secretaries and ministry directors have more representatuion than an entire Province.Go Neo we miss your column i personaly learnt a lot from that.
Why is this man behaving as if he is not a Dr?
I think the opposite would be better considering population concentrations are higher in the urban areas. But either way it wuold just increase the cost of running the country because every MP wants a 4X4 suv even the ones in cities where such vehicle are just a luxury.
Maestro :-h
Increasing rural MPs while decreasing urban MPs is, in some way, vote rigging.
We all know that rural votes tend to favour MMD and increasing their representation will ultimately increase their numbers in parliament, which is a bad thing.
I believe Reprsesentation should be based on population. I think we should re-draw constituencies every after 10 years based on the census.
Engines we should actually be looking at cutting the lazy number of lazy cats on the CB and LSK and increasing those in scattered rural Zambia. A very good idea I think.
You can not tell me Mufulira needs 3 MPs, Kitwe how many 5? No way.
It wont change the number of votes presidentila candidates get. To be honest if we have to go by ratio, Zambia can do with only 100 MPs.
See my posts above.
Welcome prof… whats new today prof?
25
Be careful with the way you interpret the message of this Dr.
I agree with you that we can reduce the MPs to 1 per district and that will work well for the country. The issue of the 20 can not work in Zambia. this is mainly due to the fact that to arrive at who is the interested here in zambia may mean debating the whole idea for 40 plus years, just as it has taken us to have a meanigful constitution. Imediately the idea is finalised and incorporated in the constitution every group will claim that it is supposed to be the one to sponsor who gerts appointed to parliament. i hope you thought of that my friend.
Infact we can even scrap off MPs in urban areas because the council is much closer and see’s everything by itself. The roads engineer is there to see the roads himself, managing director for the water utility is also there to see water issues for himself, the police command is also there to see crime for himself, the DC and NGOs are also there to see the developmental projects first hand so whats the MP for?
BAby C hav u seen me?
Anyway,Neo tht strategy is useless Mr MMD cadre.U knw u can easily influence villagers to vote 4u MMD.
Let these people first come up with parameters of how a constituency should be like. Say area or minimum number of residents it must hold.Some rural areas dont have people in their consituencies.On top of a an MP we still have ward councillors.We just need to learn how to choose good representatives
29
The current numbers of MPs we have is just too much for this country. Our total national economy shamefully is not comparable to some of the cities in this is world. Yes i meant cities and it is not a mistake. But when you look at mayors or whatever they call those who preside over the affairs of the said cities, their allowances are not even above that of a mere MP here. They become mayors after making money and the rest is just personal ambition and prestige. But here, being an MP is for poverty alleviation and a quick buck to sort out personal and family problems.
34. 3RqU
I have seen your Blog on #21, thats exactly the whole point. Dr Neo has a suggestion all we need is to refine it.Infact rural Mps are more visible to there electorates than the urban ones. its easy to know how much time a rural MP spends in his constituency than an urban one meaning that the rural MPs are more accountable than the urban forks. If you are in urban centers you probably dont even know whether your MP is at parliament, out of the country or at Times Cafe who cares after all? but ask a rural dweller. So more MP is the rural and less in urban.
Bloggers, have you ever thought of what those two pams after the date stand for?
Dr Simutanyi, that suggestion, IS VERY NO. Please do consult before you say some of these things
We are not supposed to follow the British system religiously where constituencies are decided by the population density. Thus, I concur with the author. It would make sense to have fewer MPs in urban areas as there is better communication facilities and infrastructure (relatively!) than rural areas covering greater expanse of land which have deplorable state of disrepair to even the basic infrastructure.
Continued from 40
See how Munaile wants the people of Malole or whatever his constituence is to listen or go with him to MMD so that he can get a ministrial job while they remain poor. They voted the guy as an independent but he wants to take them to MMD just cause the purse holder is MMD and it only pay when you belong to the purse holder. this Neo is suggesting this fully knowing if his village constituence is divided then he stands a better chance to start sharing from the spoils of the govt coffers. he know he can not be adopted in Lusaka, hence a constituence of illiterates will quickly fall for him as a Doc. It won’t happed ba Dr.
Interesting. The problem lies in the seriousness of the MPs and not increasing their numbers. Its just onother drain on the country’s meager resources. We better keep the same number and make these so called MPS accountable to their electorate if not performing there should be a way of firing them.
I totally agree with Dr. Simutanyi, rural constituances are vast one person can not manage to represent the needs of the community.
40. UMWINA KALALE
in Zambia a mayor has no salary and the sitting allowance for all councilors including the mayor is K18,000 per sitting. The salary of an MP is about K5m per month slightly less than the salary of a graduate engineer in the mines all zesco. so i dont know what cost you are talking about. If its gratuity, that only aplies to MPs 250 mid term and 300m final, half of which goes to the car loan that he has to use to travell around the constituencies. in other countries or even a lot of companies in zambia they just give you a personal to holder car that later becomes your own, other than a forced loan the way its done to MPs.
32. Baby C =;. later in the day as ntawi yakwana.
QUOTE: I had plenty of pimples as a kid. One day I fell asleep in the library. When I woke up, a blind man was reading my face
#45. UMWINA KALALE
Kalale when we personalise things the way you have done in #45 our whole analysis will get crowded, i know if you cant trust the messenger then you cant trust the massage even when the massage is factual. So lets forget the messenger and critically analyse the massage, thats the only way we can proceed to educating each other.So forget munaile and Neo lets just look at the suggetions and adopt them if they are ok or refine them if they are lucking.
#41
Engines exactly what I was saying. The other thing is yes to force these MPs to live in their constituencies.
They all rush to Lusaka once they are voted into parliament by poor villagers.
48
Tell me which company is giving personal to holder vehicles that i am not aware of myself.
It is sad that with your thinking costing of looking after someone like an MP is reduced to salary – that which someone get into his account at the end of the month. MPs are entitled to free lodging when parliament is in session, free fuel whn on parliamentary work, free phone bills when on parliamentary work and if that is not a cost to you then i understand why most people want numbers of MPs to increase. Enginners you have talked of are educated and sweat for their money and not most MPs i know. I do not want to talk about gratuity.
Continued from 53.
Who tells you that all MPs should get vehicles costing well over K200 million. Is it not just a case of nafishukila nomba chindye until wanyela pa bed.
The input from MPs and output we get from them do not match at all mydear for them to get what they deserve. Engineers are learned unlike some of the MPs you are supporting here who are telling us to keep giving RB time to settle in the office. When i talked of Mayors i meant those from developed countries and preside over budgets much bigger than our national budget and are not full of obscene demands, i did not mean our cadre Mayors here in zambia.
I think this is a brilliant idea, really, what job does the lusaka province MP do, please help? Lets just say that we need Lusaka Central and Kabwata merged
Continued from 54
Ask most of the MPs we have and all they will tell you is govt is there to develop constituencies and not me. Then when you question them as to why they are there they turn red and blank.
If govt is what will develop our areas, as is the case and claimed by MPs do you think we need MPs. Yes for ceremonial purposes let us have them but not so many of them. Worst still with a large parliament, the president may well give us 10 ministers per ministry. He is doing it right now all in the name of effective supervision, but you and me know that it is all aimed at rewarding cadres. Do we need to put pressure on the president in trying to reward all and he ends up with 100 mminis
53. UMWINA KALALE
you are mis informed, UMWINA KALALE MPs are not entitled to accomodation allowance, when parliament is in session they lodge at parliament motel which was specifically built for that purpose, on parliamentary work they dont get free fuel. i.e if its an energy commitee on work with ERB, then ERB will provide transport usually a bus, wether they are 10 or 3 this cost will be the same.Then no MP is entitled to a phone allowance when it comes to phone bill. in terms of meals only breakfast is provided for free just like at any lodge. yes engineers are educated but who told you that MPs are not educated?
Dear All there are numbers that may support Neo’s argument (ie. 65% of Zambia’s population is now rural – 2000 census). However I still feel that the current MP system is a total shambles. I quite like the contribution someone made about reducing the numbers to 72 (ie. 1 MP for each District) and then of course we coould push the envelope further to 9 (ie. 1 MP for each province). People, we need to be pragmatic to take this country forward. Our coffers are haemorrhaging at an alarming rate and yet these people are NOT making any sensible choices on the economy. All they do is eat, get sick and ship themselves to Milpark, Sunninghill, Morningside (YOU DIG?) :-w
but there are more people in the urban areas. Doc, what are you thinking. Many people few reps, few people more reps. I wonder the logic
57
You are missing my points. Parliament motel has got running costs which ultimately can be traced to MPsand which us the tax payers foot in the end. Water is used there, electricity is used there, cleaners to look after the place are a cost. Security provided there is a cost. a lot of other things are a cost. When ERB hosts those MPs from which ever committee, who bears the cost my dear. I do from the fuel levy i pay for every litre of gas i use. If this costing of how ultimately MPs are to us as TAX PAYERS DOES NOT SINK IN YOUR HAED THEN I MIGHT AS WELL FORGET ABOUT IMPARTING IT INTO YOU THAH capital I is not the same as 1 my dear.
GHOST COLUMNIST. where have you been and we will investigate that bogus doctorate!!! just ask for a diplomatic posting NOW!
56. UMWINA KALALE
if you have never seen an MPs payslip UMWINA KALALE you would think its a lucrative jobs i can assure you its not. people have resigned from the private sector to be an MP and they are regreting. Imagine a headmaster foregoes his job together with his pension to go and take up a 5yr job that would give him a net gratuity of 250m. had he remained a headmaster he would have worked ten years more and got a pension 300m.We must attract credible people to parliament if we are to develop and to do that you need a reasonable package. The current package is just rubbish and will only attract low calibre like councilors who will be busy selling plots to make ends meet.
57
Tell me what qualifications the following have Kachimba, Munaile, Vera, Teta, VJ, Chibomba Milimo, Elizabeth Chitika, Masiye Majory and some i can not mention.
62
From your argument, i would rather we have 1 MP per district and invest into Councillors so that on a local level we make it lucractive to have enginners, teachers and learned fellows become coiuncillors, the fact that one will not lose benefits. then coupled to that we use the money saved from looking after useless MPs to increase allowances for councillors and make them not get tempted to sell plots. Councillors are easy to get and interact with and not those pompus and ever absent for nothing MPs.
60. UMWINA KALALE
So UMWINA KALALE where do you want the MPs to be stayng when parliament is in session?? lets share ideas, how can we find a place to keep the MPs at Zero cost when parliament is in session? i think you are becoming trivial now. if parliament motel has running costs can you suggest accomodation that has no running costs? iam sure the Govnt will be very happy to know about that place because it has the pottential to produce a zero kwacha budget.
#63 UMWINA KALALE
Chibomba milimo has a masters in Education while VJ has a cambridge higher diploma in international relations, the others i dont know. Now comming back to the topic. 1 MP per district? yu seem to be confusing the role of a parliamentarian to that of a district admistrator. What DR is sayng is that we need more MPs in rural areas than in Urban areas, this is the bone of contention, are you against or for this idea? i want you to ans this so that we can proceed without deviating too much.
65
Now that you have accepted that looking after MPs even at parliament motel is not a zero cost activity, go back to my blog at 40 where you misunderstood me.
In that blog i said, it is folly to inrease the number of MPs from the current one due to the fact that our economy is not that big, strong, vibrant or well doing for one to even contemplate of raising the numbers of MPs. Then you caused me to digress so just it sank in you head that the cost benefit analysis currently of looking after our MPs does not favour increasing their numbers. Good day my dear now that we are on the same page.
Is there anybody who can honestly claim to have been seen the benefit of having an MP? As things are, the MP’s are ‘owned’ by the Marketeers, call boys, and the One who gives out ministerial jobs. Yes, the are Members of Paliament but NOT peoples’ representatives. They can be as many as they want, Zambia will still wallow in leadership and representation poverty.
I think as Zamkbians we should now start to believe in MP-less Politics. The MP’s we have 3/4 suck!
They are in it for personal glory and wealth not service. See how suddenly there bellies grow big and insolence sets in. Most of them become absentee landlords from their constituecies. All they shout is hear hear in parliament even without hearing anything, they shout from a slumber. I have sat in the public gallery in parliament 8 times. I dont hear anything constructive.Ask sleepy Daniel Munkombwe
66
Thanks for the info on Chibomba Milimo, just too bad that a guy with a masters in education does not know where to put “r” and “l” in his words. He is fond of interchanging the use of the two letters. You see, you even remind of one position that can take over the functions of the MPs while we empower the councillors and mayors in monetary terms from the bucks saved as a result of eliminating the MPs position from our country. But seriously DC can ensure 1 MP per district is complimented by the office of the DC in discharging govt programmes. What do you think Engine my dear. We can make savings as a poor country.
Fi MP pa zed :o:((:-?:-@:(|)
Just see the duplication of duties at the district level. The following have a say in each district and can be used for whatever development we want
* Provincial Ministers
* Permanent Secretaries
* Memebr of Parliaments
* Provincial Directors
* Town Clerks or District Secretaries
* District Commissioners
* Mayors
* Councillors
Is this not too many people for one pot of soup i wonder. Small wonder they are all out to show who is the boss and matters, while developmnet suffers.
70. UMWINA KALALE
its difficult for me to progress from this point because you are not answering my questions in #65 and #66. So i dont know which side you are regarding the topic at hand ” More MPs in Rural Areas than in urban areas” your last few blogs apear like a repeat of my blogs on #37 and #29 although on #72 you have totally confused different job discription by suggesting that having directors, mayor , councilors and town clerks is a duplication of Duties. You have comfused political office, civil office and technical offices. Find out the exact job discriptions of these offices and if you can hermonise the job discriptions then you can hermonise the office not vise versa
73
1 MP per district means that the rural areas will and should not get more MPs at the expense of the urban areas.
The reason are simple, MPs the way i know and understand their working do not bring developmenmt to areas be it rural or urban areas. MPs are but just selfish and self serving blood sucking parasites feeding off poor and disadvantaged illiterate filled rural areas and talkative filled urban areas of zambia.
So my dear NEo’s argument holds not even dew or vapour in itself. ZAMBIA DOES NOT NEED MORE MPs BEI IT IN RURAL AREAS OR HEAVEN NO. WE NEED TO REUDCE ON THEM BE IT IN RURAL AREAS OR URBAN. THEY ARE JUST A SUBTRACTION FROM DEVELOPMENT AS THE SITUATION IS AT THE MOMENT.
Iwe Dr. Whats wrong with u. Reducing MP numbers of in urban areas and increase ba mumizi. Research yako gone too far. The best MPs are from urban areas who articulate issues. Visit parliament and hear for yourself. majority of them just sit sit no contributions. To progress we need more MPS. For your own information its better to be honourable MP than being in formal employment. Come 2011 we are all going to stand
73
At 72 i was showing how all the above jobs ultimately serve districts in one way or the other. Jennifer Musonda can go to Luanshya and be happy about LCM, just at Mbulakulima can go to Kitwe and be happy about national milling. The Ndola Mayor is just too happy with our water situation here in ndola just as the Directors of Health, Engineering and Social services are too happy with the same water situation. If these where as professional as you want to put it, surely couldn’t someone not have seen the grey areas in the issues of service delivery i have given examples in. I am using parables so you will not get me ENGINE my friend. We are saddled with lice and not workers in all these.
Just abolish the post of president and have a Prime Minsiter elected from within parliament. No loans for MPs, no cars, no allowances but only cost reimbuesements and a small gratuity after 5 years. Then we shall have people who want to serve the country as MPs and possibly wanting to run the Country as prime minister. But, with the current scenario, even some known security guards in Chiluba’s reign became Mps and later Ministers of very powerul ministries including Foreign Affairs. Each time, they travelled, it was just drinking and sleeping I guess with different women each time. We are not serious.
True some of the rural constituencies are too vast to be effectively coordinated by one MP. The problem, however, is that most of the rural constituencies are sparsely populated. On the whole, for the sake proper representation, I am in favour of increasing the number of MPs. The argument that this will be a drain on the country’s economy does not hold water. What difference does it if you save money only to be squandered on underpants, silk pyjamas, and colourful shoes by some inconsiderate president.
Whether the number of MPs is increased or dicreased is not much of an issue. What need to change is government funding policy of developmental projects thoughout the country. The current system is just not working. Provinces and districts should be empowered through fiscal and political decentralization if we want to see development in our country. This idea where all decesions are conceived and implemented by Lusaka are not doing the country any good.
The best system would be to have 1 MP for each one of Zambia’s 72 Districts. Then we should have 3 MPs each elected on a provincial basis. That will give us a total of 99 National Assembly Members.
We also need a provincial tier of govt. We should have an elected Governor for each province. The current 150 constituents should constitute the 9 Provincial Assemblies i.e the current MPs in various constituencies should serve in the Assembly where their constituence is. Candidates would only contest elections in the constituence they reside in. I believe residents of a constituence are in a better place to define and act on their needs.
conti from #80. We should also have an Executive appointed by the President from outside the National Assembly but vetted by the National Assembly. The cabinet should only have the following positions:
1. Minister of Agriculture
2. Minister of Commerce + Industry
3. Minster of Community Affairs (covering Children, Youth, Women and Social Services).
4. Minister of Defence
5. Minister of Education.
6. Minister of Environment (covering inter alia Land, Wildlife, Forestry and sanitation issues)
7. Minister of Finance
8. Minister of Foreign Affairs
9. Minister of Home Affairs
10. Minister of Health
11. Minster of Heritage (covering Media, Culture and Sports)
12.Minister of Labour
c
continu from 81.
13 Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources
14. Minister of Works and Supply
15. Attorney General.
I would also like to add that Mayors at local level should all be directly elected. Feel free to comment and punch holes in my suggestion.
Do we even need MPs anyway? The House of Chiefs and Cabinet is enough. What do MPs do by the way? Rubber stamping everything the so called President says? Help distribute sugar and T-Shirt/Chitenge with President’s portrait. What do they do apart from slaughter women according to Shakafuswa? Can someone tell me one MP who is not in Parliament for personal gain? Zambian politics, rather African politics is a sham. There’s no shame on those guys. I think the UN must close doors on Africa until they put their act together. Ba Simutanyi, ibenge libi. You need help with demographics. Who are these interest groups you are talking about apart from Zambians? Man, get some help.
#83 MPs legislate. House of Chiefs eh?. Man u are the 1 who is smoking not Simutanyi.
#84, tell me one issue they have legislated on apart from rubber stamping. If they do that, tell me the reason for CDC. Man, shamelessly you think Simutanyi’s suggestion is the best. I know Vera, Mpombo, Teta, Mulongoti, Shakafuswa and the rest are your best legislators.
” consider increasing parliamentary seats for rural constituencies only for effective implementation of developmental projects in rural districts. ”
Why would development be in the hands of MPs, and not local councils?