The United Party for National Development (UPND) did what they know best when HE. President Edgar Lunga addressed the nation on the grounds of parliament. The action by the UPND MPs has raised gigantic reaction from us political commentators and politicians themselves. Some have agreed with the action while others have condemned it to the point of likening the UPND MPs to dogs in the animal farm. I will neither condemn nor agree with the action by the Honourable Members.
According to Hon. Garry Nkombo who is the leader of opposition in parliament and also Mazabuka Central Member of Parliament, the UPND MPs where incensed by the political songs the Patriotic front (PF) members of parliament started singing for the head of state “Lungu nga talipo bonse aba nibangwele”. I remember the song during my school days especially during sports. It is one that when you are trailing and your opponents sing it you feel like you can sink in the ground. Am sure the UPND MPs must have felt the same. That is not to say the action they took is justified.
This is not the first time the UPND is doing this, they did the same during the previous address, they have done it now and I have no doubt even in the future events they will still find a good reason not to attend the national address.
Let us put it this way. What was the speaker of the National Assembly going to do if the UPND MPs decided to remain in the house and they too started singing songs that are pro HH the moment President Lungu walked in house? What were the PF MPs going to do if that was the case? Was the reaction going to be the same? The questions are many but I hope these particular ones set the tone of what I want to say.
[pullquote]The problem is not the UPND MPs walking out of parliament. The bigger problem is failing to deal with what makes them walk away from parliament.[/pullquote]
The problem is not the UPND MPs walking out of parliament. The bigger problem is failing to deal with what makes them walk away from parliament. The problem also is not the fact that the courts have denied the UPND a chance to have their petition heard before the courts of Law. The problem is that this country remains at odds and the political divisions keep getting deeper by the day. We must not forget that the UPND is still very wounded from what happened during the last elections. When you have a wound anything small can trigger the pain and one gets to react. The UPND is still very bitter at their competitor the PF. This is why they keep doing what they do in parliament.
Parliament is not the house of political campaigns but a house of Laws. The laws of the land are formulated in parliament. Parliament must therefore be kept neutral to allow healthy debates. Unfortunately the opposite is very true, our parliament is full of politics. The Speaker on the other hand is quick to reprimand the MPs from the opposition and slow to act when those from the ruling party mess up. The speaker fails to raise the point of order when it matters the most. Parliament is contained of ‘Honourable Members’ members and the business in the house must be honourable too.
After the president noticed that the opposition MPs where not in the house he too did not seem to care. That unfortunately is a sign of pride on his side. This country is to be governed by him (President Lungu) and therefore when addressing the nation it is important that every Member of Parliament is in the house. He is Head of State and must show serious concern when things like this happen. It is not good leadership to have an I don’t care attitude. This country remains very because of two political parties that have made politics ‘Us against them’.
In conclusion, I want to urge the UPND MPs to put whatever differences they have with the PF aside in the interest of fairly representing those who voted for them in parliament. The speaker of the National Assembly must be seen to act in a poised manner when it comes to giving course in the house. The PF must refrain from turning the house of laws into a campaign rally. If our country remain divided like this it will be the future generations that will feel the pain. President Edgar Lungu therefore must show concern when things are not right and stop pretending as if all was well. We need some order in parliament and Zambia as a whole.
By David Kapoma
What do you expect from pf cadres, they only know how to sing, dance, eat, sh*t and fvxk.
Good observations Mr Kapona. Its only a psychiatric patient who cant see anything positive in this article
True….not Fck but also get fckd – especially Open Zambia Silinya and Katwekatwe!
David I have a few against you. to start with you are saying “The problem is not the UPND MPs walking out of parliament. The bigger problem is failing to deal with what makes them walk away from parliament.”
The question you have failed to answer in your article is what makes them walk out of parliament if not that which is against the constitution? please advise on what makes them walk out of parliament so we can deal with it.
secondly this statement “The Speaker on the other hand is quick to reprimand the MPs from the opposition and slow to act when those from the ruling party mess up.” is a serious allegation that you can’t prove!! Thirdly “After the president noticed that the opposition MPs where not in the house he too did not seem to care” what did you want the president…
to do? you wanted him to start crying? mind you he has a lot to do and it can’t help if he start concentrating on issues to do with political bitterness in parliament which does not matter to Zambians.
I 100% agree with you on the fact that “Parliament is not the house of political campaigns but a house of Laws. The laws of the land are formulated in parliament. Parliament must therefore be kept neutral to allow healthy debates”
@ government
Please do not drag Constitution in this issue as the same Constitution has been violated by the Justices which took Oath to protect Constitution
@ECL
allegations again
Mr Kapoma do you want the law to broken for the sake of placating the Upnd? If the law says you can appeal within 48hrs but lodge my appeal after one month, will it be accepted.
Bwana the bill of rights is still attached to the constitution where the UPND is basing their case.So how do you deal with that? My take is that let the court make a ruling and bring is issue to conclusive end .Mind you this petition has many adverse effects on our economy of which many are not seeing.So let Pf and UPND sort out this issue in court and people will judge who between the two has the interest at heart of this great Zambia
The rule by thugs is like that. this is how wars world over start, by not allowing divergence views be heard. soon will have no go areas for certain ethnics as we can see by what is happening in gvt where people from S/W & NWP are being punched. But remember Zambia is bigger than PF or the speaker or UPND. Hostility will judge them harshly.
Rubbish tribal comments
Tongas are being killed in police stations, on the streets and being fired from govt and you think PF is not tribal?
Biased, *****ic, untrue:
How are divergent views not being heard? And what do you mean people frm S/W and NWP are being punched? Please elaborate and give examples, otherwise shut up for the sake of our onw sanity
You must the only one seeing that
David is spot on you goon Ndanje. That reasoning is above your shallow head no wonder you can afford to ask silly questions over a well balanced article like this one. David’s reasoning is above politics and he is showing you how leaders ought to behave. Why are you Zambians so shallow in your reasoning? Cant you see the problem David is trying to solve for the Country.
@lekeni you should call yourself a goon because you lack manner, lack respect for other people ‘s opinion and resort to insults without dissecting what others are saying.
Another none readable and without direction article. NOT WORTH READING. NEXT
How do most major Bible characters such as apostles have European/Caucasian (White) names when the Bible took place amongst nonwhite foreigners?
what did they gain to walk out? in the last days people shall continue to be wiser but weaker.
Wiser from what ?? An empty speech full of hearsay and no solutions ?
Do they have the democratic right to express themselves in that manner? given that they feel they have not been head else where? I am sure that was one of the very best option other than violence and I believe UPND has achieved the goal coz everyone has felt them including myself.
I think Mr. David Kapoma means well and he has identified the problem very well; i agree with him.
It is very saddening to see the governing system deteriorating in Zambia at a very fast rate because of a few selfish individuals.
Worse still it is very disheartening to listen and observe how the current Speaker handles parliament business. Cry Zambia my beloved country. May God hear our cries!!!
David your analysis is very poor indeed. You are running away from telling the truth. Why didnt you start by the petition? How about the speaker failing to act as president when UPND petitioned the results? The people who voted for the UPND are completely in support of what the MPs did so I dont know who you think the MPs present. The only people complaining are PF not UPND! Tell us which UPND prominent member complained about the behaviour of the MPs? So your article is FAKE, FAKE, FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE and FAKE.
David when was the directive for the UPND MPs boycott the President’s speech given? Did HH told them not to when he head PF MPs singing? If they did that because PF were praising ECL what about the first time was it the same reason? David what did you want the President to do when he saw that opposition MPs. had walked out? Start crying, beat them, or may be cancel the all program just because the minions had walked out? David why can’t UPND also come to reason over the petition? If it were HH who won and all the observers confirm that the elections were ok and then PF start doing what they are doing how can you feel? I for one I fail to understand why HH and his goons fail to interpret the constitution including their lawyers. If they walked out because of singing why did they not…
I am not a pf supporter but these guys that boycott the chamber are they doing their job as a MP looking after their people in their electoral riding? if they don’t show up why should they be paid?
their job is to debate gov’t business and keep the gov’t in check. stop wasting tax payers money and do a days work.
I have ready the article but neutrality is lacking in it. One thing you seem to have overlooked is the fact that H.E. President Lungu is the president of the Republic of Zambia and the Patriotic Front Party that sponsored him scope to scoop the presidency. Therefore, whenever there are such very important events the party has power has to give him solidarity and support so that he delivers the vision laid by the PF government. We can never rule out politics from governance unless ‘political elites’ including Hon. Kombo did not wrestle for political mandate by the people of Zambia who want to see their vision being implemented. Not long ago some people were drunk with two shots of black label whisky in the house at the expense of debating the constitution. What laws is the Hon. talking…
I have ready the article but neutrality is lacking in it. One thing you seem to have overlooked is the fact that H.E. President Lungu is the president of the Republic of Zambia and the Patriotic Front Party that sponsored him scope to scoop the presidency. Therefore, whenever there are such very important events the party in power has to give him solidarity and support so that he delivers well the visiondown laid by the PF government. We can never rule out politics from governance unless ‘political elites’ including Hon. Kombo did not wrestle for political mandate from the people of Zambia who want to see their visions being fulfilled. Not long ago, some people were drunk with two shots of black label whisky in the house at the expense of debating the constitution. The same people went…
And who is David Kapoma? A biased UPND cadre?
Please dont try to show that you are fair when infact this is one of the most biased article lately.
And dealing with what is causing the UPND MPs walking out? You must be kidding. Who must deal with that other than the UPND themselves. They want to be heard outside the provisions of the law? This matter will never ever take off unless the cosntititution is changed, and mind you any change to the constitution will require ECL to ascent to it.
The writer of this article has completely misdirected himself. As much as he wanted to be seen to be neutral, he is in fact a UPND sympathiser. I fail to understand at what stage did the MPs walked out? What made them walk out? If they had any grievance against PF MPs, did they raise it with the Speaker? To the centrally, HH is on record supporting his MPs and condemned Keith Mukata. If that is the way opposition ought to behave, I am afraid, we are not going anywhere. Between the two parties, who has a begging ball?
Now LAZ condemns the Upnd for boycotting Parliament so where does that leave Bwana Kaoma?
Ba UPND nibangwele really. Why are they pursuing an issue which will never happen even in a kangaroo court in dundumwezi
Mr/Ms Off Topic they have English/European names because your introduction to Christianity was by way of English TRANSLATIONS of the Scriptures. The name “JESUS” for instance, in the original Hebrew-Aramaic is Yeshu’a, a shortened version of Yehõshu’a. Yehõshu’a is translated as Joshua in English]
NO ONE WAS DECLARED WINNER OF 2016 ELECTIONS BY CONCOURT
UPND Supporter Khumalo writes:
IT’S USELESS for some individuals to keep trying to convince us that HH lost the August, 2016 elections because no one in the UPND will accept that crap.
The truth is the election process was not exhausted as the Constitutional Court did not conclude the petition.
The Constitution clearly states that once a presidential petition is lodged, the ConCourt need to either;
1. Nullify the election or
2. Declare one of the candidates as having been duly elected.
None of these two actions was done by the ConCourt. So LET THE PRESIDENTIAL PETITION BE HEARD! SIMPLE!