I AM READY TO BE PUNISHED A THOUSAND TIMES – MUNDUBILE
….in order to restore decorum in Parliament as he accuses Speaker Mutti, second Deputy Speaker Moyo of stifling parliamentary democracy.
Lusaka – Tuesday, 11 October 2023
By NATION REPORTER
BRIAN Mundubile has vowed that he is ready to be punished a thousand times for as long as Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Mutti and her second Deputy Speaker Moses Moyo shall continue to exhibit biasness in their conduct of business in the house.
Mr. Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament says for as long as there shall be no Parliamentary democracy, he was going to fight for what is just and does not care how many times Speaker Mutti and her second Deputy Speaker Moyo were going to threaten him with punishment.
But both Speaker Mutti and the government Chief Whip have threatened that they would not tolerate Mr Mundubile for what they have termed as misconduct for trying to defend the Parliamentary Standing Orders which guide the conduct of both the presiding officers and the lawmakers.
Mr Mundubile said until Zambians are able to see and experience Parliamentary democracy, those threatening him should know that his desire to restore decorum in the House was not a battle he was ready to lose.
“Against all those threats from both speaker Mutti and second Deputy Speaker Moyo, let them know I am not moved an inch…I am ready to be punished a thousand times unless the decorum of Parliament is restored. I will not stop at anything. For as long as there is no Parliamentary democracy in the House, I am going to fight.”
“I will fight for what is just and I do not care. how many times they are going to threaten to punish me. I will stop at nothing short of Parliamentary democracy.
Those threatening me should be told that this is not a battle I am ready to lose and I will do all it takes until the opposition Members of Parliament start debating freely in the House,” Mr Mundubile said.
Mr Mundubile said he was not going to take any threats trom any of the presiding officers on the floor of the flouse because what was guiding the behaviour of both the MPs and the presiding officers were Standing Orders.
“When someone, including the presiding officers breach the standing orders in their conduct, then the standing orders are at large and the presiding officers cannot run back to the same rules and punish a member after breaching the rules governing the House, Mr Mundubile said.
Mr Mundubile said for as long as the presiding officers did not become impartial in conducting the business of the House, there Shall be disquiet in Parliament stating “I am only but one messenger but there could be many more others. So, all those threats against me wil not stop me in my bid to bring sanity in Parliament”.