Parliament has failed the people, admits Mundubile
By Fanny Kalonda
MPOROKOSO PF member of parliament Brian Mundubile says the country is in danger because government chose to favour its friends in the mining sector.
He admits that parliament has failed the Zambian people “this time around”.
“So there is no new story President Hakainde Hichilema is going to come with to tell the Zambian people about how he’s the best economist. About how he’s the best farmer and about how well connected he is. He cannot say that anymore. The exchange rate has exposed him. They (IMF) are raising red flags. They can see some danger in continuing the danger which we started with them. So for me, I think that comrade [Situmbeko] Musokotwane has to move very swiftly, he has to proceed with speed to see to it that they reverse the measures of the mining sector. We still do need investment but I think they can come at a later stage. Let’s stabilise this economy first and there is no need for us to go all over,” Mundubile said when he featured on KBN TV’s State of the Nation programme on Thursday. “We are in trouble today because we favoured some friends. Our government leaders decided to favour some friends in the mining sector.”
He urged the UPND government to “take back the mineral royalty tax to six per cent and make it non-deductible.”
“There is no magic. The moment that is done, we are going to have the forex that we need. We can’t give away three, four hundred million dollars and walk around with a … bowl we celebrate when the IMF disburses $180 million. That is unfair,” he said. “When they say the bar has been raised, I think there is a difference, they should say the cost of living has been raised. What has gone up is the cost of living. If raising the bar means increasing the price of fuel from K15 per litre to K34, I agree they have raised the bar. If increasing the bar means increasing the cost of mealie meal from K120 to K400, yes then I agree they have raised the bar.”
Mundubile also said there is has no democracy in parliament.
“What we don’t have in today’s parliament is what you call parliamentary democracy, the freedom of members of parliament to speak and speak freely. When presiding officers begin to call out names of members, that is disrespectful. Remember these are members of parliament, elected members of parliament representing Zambians out there. The moment you say, honourable Munir Zulu sit down, that is very disrespectful and that already begins to breed tension,” he said.
“If presiding officers in our parliament begin to use whips to control the House, the tension will begin to go down that is one, then two. It’s common knowledge that all the three presiding officers were previously members of the UPND, could still be active members of the UPND. But the moment they occupy that seat, they are supposed to be impartial. They should be independent and impartial. They have to take off that hat for the UPND because what happens is that the moment they don’t do that, they will find themselves reacting to debate.”
Mundubile said the tension in parliament is due to the fact that the presiding officers do not take off their UPND jackets.
“We are not there as the opposition political parties to begin to sing praise songs to the UPND. If they have scored in an area, it is not my job to talk about it. I simply ignore it, I will go to an area that needs attention. So the presiding officer must not like my debate for them to allow me to debate because I represent the people. That is the people’s House. That’s a national assembly. So part of the tension you can actually see the bias, points of order are granted to one side of the House and not to the other,” he said. “So it’s because when presiding officers don’t take off the political party jackets they begin to create tension in the House. So a presiding officer must be independent and impartial.”
Mundubile noted that the country is in problems because parliament was rendered dysfunctional.
“We are in problems, the UPND managed to export 1.5 million tonnes of maize because parliament was rendered dysfunctional. It’s the first time I have seen members of parliament disrespected by presiding officers,” he said. “If members of parliament were given ample time to discharge their function on the floor of the House through debate, through motions, we would have stopped comrade Musokotwane from giving the concessions that he gave in the mining sector but all these ministers are protected under the flow of the House. A properly functioning parliament would allocate ample time on serious subjects like mineral royalty on the mining sector. But today the investors walked away with all those conditions because members of parliament were not allowed or were not given enough time to debate the matter.”
Mundubile said the country has a mining sector that is plundering resources for free.
“On behalf or my fellow members of parliament I want to come before the Zambian people and admit that parliament failed the Zambian people this time around. We have the high mealie meal prices because parliament did not take its position to stand in the gap. The high fuel prices are because parliament did not take its position to stand in the gap. Had parliament taken its rightful position, the Minister of Mines [Paul Kabuswe], the Minister of Finance, was going to be stopped from giving those concessions that are now hurting our economy. If parliament was given enough time to debate fully and freely we would have not allowed for Indeni to close. We would have been importing commingled fuel,” he said. “We have the mining sector that is plundering our resources for free. We have no medicines. We have a cancer hospital, poor people are dying in homes, they come there just to die. They come to the cancer hospital, there is no attention at all and yet government came under the floor of the House and said we will start sending them to Tanzania. How many people have been sent to Tanzania?”
Mundubile added that the democratic space had really shrunk.
“Today our democratic space has shrunk so much that the UPND have this hysteria, this fear of the unknown, that if so and so goes and speaks to the media, they may expose us in this area and that area. And that the challenge that you have when you are not in the habit of telling the truth, you begin to fear your own shadow because you don’t know what is going to come out and that’s I think the position that the UPND finds itself in,” he said.
“What we are experiencing today, just the exchange rate says it all. So there is no new story President Hakande Hichilema is going to come with to tell the Zambian people about how he’s the best economist. About how he’s the best farmer and about how well connected he is. He cannot say that anymore. The exchange rate has exposed him, the same goes for comrade Musokotwane. He was recently voted the best finance minister and President Hakainde Hichilema was talking about being in the champion’s league. I don’t think my two older brothers can even refer to the champion’s league anymore. Comrade Musokotwane as the best performing minister, I don’t think he wants to hear that because you can’t have a best performing minister in the world or in Africa with the worst performing currency. So really, the leaders in the UPND like grandstanding. They like headlines, they like to be praised even when they have done nothing. Many of the times they have made mistakes because they start by blowing healines. They celebrate small victories and they later regret.”
Mundubile insisted that he was still acting as leader of opposition in parliament.
“I am still exercising my full authority as a leader of opposition. Before I came here I was having a caucus with the members of parliament. We still have yet another caucus of members of parliament. So I am still working as leader of opposition, exercising the same authority, supervising member of parliament, preparing for debates and generally business of the House,” he said.
“The other matters, yes, will be dealt with by the courts but it has never stopped me from functioning. I am not competing with anyone. I am leader of opposition, and that’s the bottom line,” said Mundubile.-The Mast