EDITOR’S NOTE | Representation Not a Birthright
Chawama has had no MP for the last five months. Tasila Lungu’s seat is vacant, not because voters changed their minds at the ballot box, but because their representative stopped showing up for work. Speaker Nelly Mutti invoked Article 72 of the Constitution after months of silence, missed sittings and ignored summons.
Opposition figures call it persecution. The record looks more like abandonment.
The facts are not in dispute. Tasila has been away from Parliament since June, following the death of her father, former president Edgar Lungu. The Speaker says she was given clear directives in July to return either within fourteen days of the burial or within fourteen days of the opening of the Fifth Session. She did not return. She did not seek written leave under Standing Orders 215 and 243.
She did not appear before the Committee on Privileges and Absences. For five months, the people of Chawama had a name on paper, not a voice in the House.
It is fair to acknowledge grief. Losing a parent is not a small matter, especially when that parent is a former head of state and the centre of a national storm. But grief does not suspend the Constitution. Chawama is not a private family estate. It is a constituency of ordinary residents whose lives depend on laws, budgets and questions raised in Parliament.
When an MP vanishes for almost half a year without formal permission, the issue stops being sympathy. It becomes accountability.
The opposition line is predictable. They say this is part of a wider pattern of targeting the Lungu family. They point to asset seizures, court cases and the burial saga. Some supporters frame Tasila as a victim of political vengeance. Yet none of these arguments explain why she did not write a simple letter, request extended leave, or appear before the committee that summoned her.
Rights cut both ways. So do responsibilities.
What happened today should worry every MP, not just those in the Patriotic Front orbit. If Parliament cannot enforce its own rules on attendance, then the idea of representation becomes theatre. You cannot draw a salary, claim privileges and then vanish from the chamber for months while citizens queue for voter registration and tax payers fund your office.
At some point the institution must choose between protecting comfort and protecting the Constitution.
Bill 7 debates have revived a favourite slogan on all sides: “the will of the people.” It is worth asking a simple question in Chawama. Whose will was served by five months of silence? Certainly not the marketeers, bus drivers, teachers and youths who expected their MP to argue their case on the floor.
Vacating the seat is painful, but it restores a basic principle. When a representative walks away from the job, the people must be given a chance to choose again.
This is not a judgment on Tasila’s personal pain. It is a reminder that office carries weight. If politics is to mean more than surnames and sympathy, then both government and opposition must accept that holding power includes being present, being answerable and being replaceable.
For reactions, write to editor.peoplesbrief@gmail.com.
© The People’s Brief | Editors
The People’s Brief caught “in fragrante delicto” as a UPND surrogate!!!
There are many capable and qualified people in Chawama who can do the work ten times better than Tasila. Tasila does not respect Zambia, and the speaker’s decision to invalidate the seat is wise. After all, there is no evidence of her father’s death. Kudos to the speaker!