SPEAKER MUTTI RESERVES RULING ON MPs WHO HAVE JOINED UPND
Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti, has urged Members of Parliament to remain patient as the House awaits a ruling on wwhether lawmakers who have crossed the floor to join the ruling party can continue attending parliamentary sittings.
The matter arose in the National Assembly today when Mkushi South Member of Parliament, Davies Chisopa raised a point of order, questioning whether the affected MP’s were in order to continue participating in proceedings.
Mr. Chisopa argued that Article 72 of the Constitution is clear that a parliamentary seat must be declared vacant once a member defects, and that such members should therefore not continue attending sittings.
In response, Ms. Mutti called for patience, noting that a similar point of order had already been raised and is currently under consideration.
She assured the House that a comprehensive ruling on the matter will be delivered in due course.
This comes amid a wave of defections involving several independent MPs and members of the Patriotic Front (PF), who have recently joined the ruling party ahead of the dissolution of Parliament later this month.
-RCV