.Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini

By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has warned Members of Parliament (MPs) that they will not be paid sitting allowances for absenting themselves from Parliamentary business.
However, despite the warning, the opposition MPs skipped Parliamentary business for the second day by walking out of the House.
Questions for oral answers were made to lapse and the Speaker consequently adjourned proceedings prematurely.
On Tuesday, MPs reported to the House but later walked out of the House in their quest to press Government to state the roadmap on the Constitution-making process.
Dr Matibini said the conduct displayed in Parliament showed that the MPs had absconded from the chamber to disrupt the business of the House.
“I, therefore, wish to warn the House that from today, any member who intentionally absconds from the House including from asking questions on the order paper shall not be entitled to receive sitting allowances on that day,” Dr Matibini said.
He said members, who merely registered on the attendance list and immediately absconded from the business of the House, including asking questions, would be presumed to be absent and not entitled to receive the allowance.
“My office did not receive prior notification on the absence of the MPs except Mwinilunga MP Stephen Katuka.
“Therefore, this conduct amounts to contempt of the National Assembly contrary to section 19 Paragraph E of the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges Act) chapter 12 of your laws,” Dr Matibini said.
United Party for National Development (UPND) Choma Central MP Cornelius Mweetwa later rose on a point of order to ask if Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba was in order to call the opposition MPs fraudsters in the media and for Patriotic Front (PF) youth chairperson, Kennedy Kamba to direct that the parliamentarians should not be paid allowances.
Mr Mweetwa said Vice-President Guy Scott in the media also referred to the opposition MPs as “just monkeying”, a statement he described as demeaning and racist.
In response, Dr Matibini noted that in as much as the MPs were pushing for a new Constitution, they should not abrogate the rules of the House.
Meanwhile, Government has banned the movement of pigs and pork products from Chief Macha’s area in Southern Province following the outbreak of  African swine fever in the area.
Agriculture and Livestock Minister Bob Sichinga announced the ban in Parliament yesterday in a ministerial statement.
Mr Sichinga said the disease was reported on February 11, this year at Chief Macha’s farm and confirmed by the central veterinary research institute in Lusaka after a site visit.