WHAT BEEF DOES MOSES MOYO HAVE WITH PF

WHAT BEEF DOES MOSES MOYO HAVE WITH PF

Ever since Luangeni Independent member of parliament Moses Moyo was elected Second Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, he seems to have ‘declared war’ with the country’s main opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF).

Evidence to prove this is overwhelming in the records of the National Assembly. Moses’ conduct towards the PF has been very unfair, shameless and outright biased against them. He cannot deny this because there are so many rulings and comments he has made which have exposed him, and they are very well documented at parliament.

The latest incident where Moses had a bitter exchange of words with leader of the opposition Brian Mundubile on Friday October 6, 2023, exposed all the bias the Deputy Speaker has against the PF. He had no shame in exposing it all. The nation watched as Moses allowed UPND MPs to taunt Brian when he was on the floor. Moses also allowed UPND members to raise all sorts of points of order, but kept curtailing their PF colleagues when they tried to do the same. This is the worst our National Assembly has ever become, especially under Moses’ leadership. Moses has certainly never lived up to his mandate as a presiding officer. He is a bad umpire who perhaps need VAR!

He has brought shame to the House. His sessions are annoying and frustrating to both members of parliament and citizens who follow live debates.

Standing Orders are very clear on how a presiding officer should conduct him/herself in parliament. And it is certainly not to fight personal battles with members of parliament. Chapter 7 of Standing Orders 2021 on DUTIES OF PRESIDING OFFICERS Sub Articles 3 and 4 states as follows:

“(3) A presiding officer shall maintain order and decorum in the House.
(4) A presiding officer shall, in discharging the duties of a presiding officer, act fairly and impartially.”

We therefore challenge Moses to state how long he has acted fairly to the PF in any session. His bias has always betrayed him because he has failed to mask it. To date, the nation does not really know what bone he has to chew with the PF. But we all have a hint of it when we go back into history. It is on record that the PF refused to adopt Moses as their parliamentary candidate for Luangeni Constituency in Eastern Province during the 2021 general election, hence he stood as an Independent.

Moses defeated the PF in Luangeni and today he is member of parliament on an Independent ticket. As fate would have it, he received another honour when he was appointed Second Deputy Speaker of our National Assembly, a position he probably never even expected and deserved. And he has used this position to get back at the PF at every instance he finds. If this is not enough honour for him, what more does he want? And how long is he going to rub it into the PF? Does he want all PF MPs to be kicked out of the House so that he just remains with the party that sponsored him? Zambians will not accept this.

Moses is not the first and last person to have been rejected by a political but ends up defeating it in an election. In fact, most of the Independent MPs we have today were aspiring candidates on the PF ticket. It’s just that they were not adopted and they decided to stand as Independents. One example is Nkana Independent member of parliament Binwell Mpundu whom the PF rejected during adoption in 2021. But he stood as an Independent and defeated them. Others are Munir Zulu and Emmanuel Banda.

Yet, these have never used the House to fight the PF because they realise the importance of parliamentary democracy. They know the value of numbers in parliament. There are others whom the PF refused to adopt but they won on their Independent tickets. And how many of them are using the House to get back at the PF? Probably none!

There has never been a time when Moses has never shown outright bias against the PF if it is him presiding over parliamentary business. In fact, parliamentary debates are usually boring if Moses is in charge because he curtails reasonable questions and arguments from the country’s main opposition party. In most instances, he guides ministers on how to respond or even tells them to ignore the question. What kind of leadership is this where you front personal feelings over national interests? Parliament is not Moses’ backyard farm which he should be using to vent his anger and frustrate debate from deserving members, no. It is our National Assembly where we want to hear every member who is on the floor, regardless of which political party they represent and how Moses feels about them. Zambians do not want Moses to speak for them. They want their members of parliament to speak for them. And they want their ministers to respond to every question opposition members ask without Moses’ protection or curtailing anybody. This is a very big weakness that Moses should immediately deal with. He should spit the anger he has against PF and begin to act fairly as a presiding officer. The PF is the country’s main opposition party and whether Moses likes it or not, they deserve to be recognised and respected all the time because we are a democracy.

From the time Brian was elected leader of the opposition, he has lived up to this mandate. He has represented them well so far. In most instances he has even controlled those that have tried to engage in verbal arguments with presiding officers. Brian surely is a mature leader who knows his role very well. And so for him to have lost his temper and subsequently be sent out of the House, it’s because Moses pushed him to the wall. Moses kept curtailing Brian while UPND members were spiting all sorts of unparliamentary comments. Does Moses forget that these debates are carried live and the nation watches? He certainly should own up and begin to act as a fair presiding officer. If he can’t control himself, let him vacate the seat and leave it to others who will behave as presiding officers. Why can’t he pick a leaf from First Deputy Speaker Malungo Chisangano who has been fair so far? Even when she is guiding members, she is respectful and less emotional.

We therefore make a humble appeal to Madam Speaker, Nelly Mutti, to counsel Moses before he destroys the atmosphere of the House. Zambians will not allow him to fight personal battles with the PF when they want their MPs to speak. It is called the National Assembly of Zambia and not the assembly for Moses Moyo. We hope this behaviour will not repeat itself in the upcoming debates. Zambians want fairness from every presiding officer. None of them should show outright bias and patronage to the UPND even though it is the party that sponsored them. It has been our parliamentary tradition and rule that Speakers are sponsored by political parties with representation in parliament. But once these are elected, they cease to be partisan. This is how we have managed our democracy, and this is how we will proceed for now until we decide to change. Abash biased conduct!

Credit: The Mast editorial