Kafwaya Secures Amendment as House Votes ‘Yes’ Following Procedural Lapse
Parliament News, 4 December 2025
The National Assembly has continued to scrutinize the 2025 national budget, culminating in the successful passage of an amendment moved by Hon. Mutotwe Kafwaya.
The House voted “Aye”, thereby approving his proposal to reallocate 6 billion kwacha toward dismantling Zambia’s growing domestic arrears.
Hon. Kafwaya presented a detailed case highlighting the urgent need to address the country’s 84.1 billion kwacha in unpaid domestic arrears funds owed to suppliers, contractors, and service providers still struggling under delayed government payments. The current allocation of 4.7 billion kwacha, he argued, was insufficient to make meaningful progress.
“This is about honouring what we owe,” Kafwaya said
“When we pay Zambians for work already done, their companies survive, jobs are protected, and money circulates more widely in the economy. Let us give dismantling of arrears a decent and realistic amount.”
However, in his response to the amendment, the Minister of Finance and National Development rejected the proposal, insisting that the funds Hon. Kafwaya sought to redirect were essential for centralized recruitment in education, health, and other critical sectors.
In a notable procedural development, Second Deputy Speaker Moses Moyo skipped the crucial stage in which the House is supposed to vote specifically on whether the amendment itself should be accepted or rejected.
Instead of asking, “As many as are of the opinion that the amendment be agreed to, say Aye…”, the presiding officer moved directly to putting the question on whether Head 21 should stand part of the budget.
By doing so, he omitted the vote on the amendment itself, effectively allowing Hon. Kafwaya’s amendment to pass unopposed.
This procedural slip meant that once the House voted “Aye” on adopting Head 21, the amendment was automatically incorporated.
Under parliamentary rules, when an MP proposes an amendment to a budget head, the following steps must be followed:
1. The mover of the amendment formally presents and explains the proposed change.
2. The Line Minister responsible for that budget head responds, either supporting the amendment or giving reasons for opposing it.
3. The presiding officer must then ask the House to vote specifically on the amendment to decide whether there proposed change should be accepted or rejected.
Only after this vote is concluded should the Chair proceed to put the question that the entire budget head whether amended or not stands part of the estimates.
Because the presiding officer proceeded straight to the final vote, Head 21 was adopted with the amendment already embedded, without any objection from the floor.
Parliament then moved on to consider the next budget head, making Hon. Kafwaya’s 6 billion kwacha reallocation officially part of the 2026 budget framework.