Political Activist Dante Saunders says people should not expect any serious debates as Parliament reconvenes on 24th February, 2015.
Mr. Saunders told Qfm News in an interview that over the past few years, parliament has not been able to address serious issues affecting people and all the contentious issues stakeholders raise.
Mr. Saunders says Parliament has been failing to address issues such as the Public Order Act, Access to Information Bill, electoral reforms, and Constitution roadmap among other issues that stakeholders have been pushing for.
Mr. Saunders said he expects nothing new from Parliament as it reconvenes, stating that parliamentarians will simply concentrate on issues that will benefit them ignoring issues affecting the people.
He said time has come for Parliamentarians to start working towards improving the lives of the people they represent.
I expected an old man like Saunders to know that bitterness can eat someone to the borne
Mr Dante Sondashi, you will die of envy and hatred. Your UPND will never be in POWER. You may join Mr Mulyokela and be the SG his party. With him there is a slight chance may be.
On a serious note, gentleman, dont throw the water with the baby. Dante Saunders is very right. The quality of debates and resultant of the sessions leaves much to be desired. The place is a talking shop where MP´s go chat mainly about preserving their privileges.
Very few, if at all any of our legislators do consider hiring researchers to gather data/info on up coming bills on matters of national importance on which they have little knowledge on. Isn´t worrisome that some MP´s may stay the whole life of the parliament without opening their mouths other than joining in the general chorus of “yea or nay”? Other than than they will never contribute intelligently in any debate. Being popular with the grassroots is in itself not a criterion that the legislator will hack it at Manda Hill.
Mr. Dante Saunders is right as I too expect nothing substantial to come out of parliament. Parliament inaction is the cause of the economic malaise and the useless depreciating Kwacha for lack of seriousness. Other world economies study the behavior of leadership in nations across the globe and measure dosage of interaction with these governments. Our law makers go to the house to pass time and enrich themselves only to be seen to talk issues when it is re-election time. They become carelessly comfortable for the electorate does not take them to task on their relevance being in parliament! Saunders is 100% right as it will be comedy business as usual just as the picture depicts with lots of laughter while the majority will be traversing compounds and countryside for a meal or job.
Mr Saunders is right! Gone are the days when you could sit and listen to parliamentary debates, when you listened to intelligent people having meaningful discussions. Now it drivel. Some of the parliamentarians can hardly string a sentence together.
Yet they are sitting there getting allowances.
And you Mr Saunders are now able to see into the future…when did you become a prophet?
I agree they are so predictable and useless..I have been reading the Hansard for the past two years and the level of debate is so below par. My kids are even seasoned debaters.
The idea of praising useless people has got out of hand in Zambia…
You are a coward otherwise you could have come openly and use those same words you have used against the president. Nobody stole any votes you just lost. If your HH had won we were going to accord him respect as president. Not the way you are going about it
Saunders, parliament includes your party UPND, why dont you tell those MPs representing you?
Read again; Sanders was not partisan and did not single out parliamentarians from a particular party in the statement. He brought out an issue relating to the priorities of Zambian Parliamentarians.
@ Misango yaba Chaimani, well done!
Deja vu I usually find your comments totally out of sync with the issue at hand. No one is mentioning HH. We are discussing Mr Saunder’s sentiments. It is either you agree or disagree. Did you ever do comprehension at school?
This chap will be cited for contempt! Doesn’t he know that its an offence to insult Parliament?
What insults? Honestly, some bloggers insult but Saunder’s is not insulting anyone and neither is his language offensive!
The cider now wants to talk about Parliament issues when he was busy by blocking trucks with suspected ballot papers. He must be ashamed.
What contempt….it’s also a crime to steal votes…don’t you think so?
Zambians please wake up and let’s try HH in 2016.
This Lungu Mfuwe dweller has failed. I remember Sata once said Mwanawasa didn’t know what to do when got into the state house and am sure Sata is saying the same thing at Embassy Park…”why did I chose this vision less Edgar…why” …have you checked the dollar rate today…scary stuff….UTH no pain killers…..”ifintu ni Lungu ” tiye nayo..Chimbwi no plan reloaded is in control
You are a coward otherwise you could have come openly and use those same words you have used against the president. Nobody stole any votes you just lost. If your HH had won we were going to accord him respect as president. Not the way you are going about it. MEANT YO ZWD
I like your simplistic assessment of failure and success. How can you tell that the man in plot one has failed even before he starts?
Wasn’t Saunders in government before? what are his benchmarks while in government.
This chap is an UP AND DOWN carder. Why not tell your nkombo and hamudududududu this trash instead of addressing it generally.
@Biemba machende aaako.
Someone who practices partisan politics should not be honoured with the title political activist. Saunders is just a politician now.
Unless you don’t understand English, Saunders is not being partisan here. Read the article again and comment sensibly. You are behaving like the same parliamentarians. Why is it that PF minions cant discuss issues, they can comprehend anything. What are you guys scared of? Is it deliberate or just being dunderheads? atase. Always being too protective of their party they cant even discuss anything sensibly uh. Let intelligent people discuss issues, it is their democratic right to do. Besides, that’s how intelligent people share ideas that lead to solving national problems. If you have nothing to off, remember ‘silence is golden.’
Please Saunders stop being a noise maker you are old now
Saunders is making noise because your reasoning is below par. What Saunders has said is quite true of our parliamentarians. They are detractors to the fight against poverty.
Tell that Tropiko/Ziko what ever he is called to behave we have not opened the parliament for him to open his mouth. Anyway he has a genuine comment.
AND ANY MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT WHO WILL NOT SHOW US THE FRUITS OF HIS WORK IN HIS CONSTITUENCY BY JANUARY NEXT YEAR SHOULD BE BOOTED OUT. ZAMBIAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT ARE TOOTHLESS DOGS. THEY ONLY GO TO PARLIAMENT FOR THEIR SELFISH GAINS. ALLOWANCES! WE NEED KNEW CROP OF LEADERSHIP. JACK MWIIMBU IN MONZE YOU ARE DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
This is a failed politician. He tried forming a party and failed lamentably, only coloureds from southern province joined him. What a nuisance, ati political activist! Ata!
His Excellency President Lungu has dribbled the Bemba’s Lol… PF is now Banda and Co 🙂
Iwe ka @bodman cool it! Do you realize that Langford Banda, the recent chap in the New York incident is actually Sata’s relative? Tribal drivel (yes, it is also DRIVEL) is so yesterday. Realize that Langford is the name of Sata’s papa… Where does your nonsense place you? Take your tribal ejaculation elsewhere…
SAUNDERS has finally and clinically gone nuts, gone mad, gone bonkers, and needs express and immediate attention by experts both local and foreign to address the debilitating condition that afflicts him!
I beg to differ with you @Balya Abatutuma. Dante is absolutely right. We have very few quality legislators. Most of them are not to scratch. No debating skills and for most are out of their depth in terms of comprehending the Queens language and subject matter. Take for instance, the issue of global warming and the green house effect. Such and many issues need correct handling in order to formulate national policy. However, if there is a lack of basic understanding of the problem domain, how does one prescribe a solution? That was just an example.
There may be some truth is what this guy has said but the fault is not with parliamentarians, it is the electorate!!! they vote for low caliber MPs, how do they expect them to debate intelligently? for them its just another way to get employed if one failed grade 12! most MPs especially from rural areas have never seen the inside of a college let alone a University! They are not even worthy of being called honorable!!!!
Parliamentarians are supposed to present to Parliament mainly views and needs of the people. However, the MPs have very little time to meet the people before they attend parliament sessions hence they miss it. They might have their own but my advise to all of them is as I have stated above. Meet the people in your constituency regularly and listen to their views. Put your suggestions across to them as well and come up with the best presentation before the the speaker and fellow MPs. Forget about personal agenda otherwise everything discussed becomes useless. All MPs must remember that they represent the people that elected them to the government and not themselves. It is just like workers union representatives to management of a company.
With a name like Saunders…sounds like he needs to be going back somewhere out of Zambia.
Saunders if you are not for Zambian Gov’t go somewhere you like.
Your statement sounds like it came from a tea leaf reading session with Madame FuturePredictor.
We don’t need this depressive noise. Get packing.
viva lungu at least he is from the east and eastener are not in the habit of stealing unlike,u know ur selves only that bwesani is teaching lungu how to drive.
Our parliament is useless .These thieves are just stealing our hard earned Taxpayers money. They need head panel beating.
And expect the same old drivel from Dante Saunders…
Ba Saunders nabo. You say things that everyone knows and expects. Please be active not on radio and social media go to the markets, schools etc but me unlike you know that you will blame the public order act.
Wise activists are found everywhere not at Upnd press conferences and noding your head in affirmitive each time the speaker of the conference makes what you perceive to be a point. Ikalenifye ba Saunders with your atificial intelingency.
There is a lot of work pending for our parliamentarians actually. As a first, they need to revisit all ARCHAIC laws (silly ‘Zambian-approved’ triangles for cars for example), as well as enact laws that will bring us up to speed with the reality of the times. This dozing in parliament should stop. Police and other agents who interact with the public have capitalized on these lapses and are harassing and in most cases taking unjustifiable BRIBES from innocent members of the public, especially our foreign guests who are usually bewildered by these silly statutes long abandoned in their countries.