By Felix Mutambo
THE quorum in parliament collapsed yesterday because some United Party for National Development (UPND) Members of Parliament abandoned their mandate and followed President Hakainde Hichilema even when they have no role to play there, democracy and governance advocate Isaac Mwanza has charged.
Mr. Mwanza says he is worried with the current trend by MPs to abandon their mandate in Parliament and that this should also worry the ruling party as it sends a very bad signal adding that the majority of UPND members of Parliament assumed that the opposition would vote despite them being absent.
“Majority of the UPND MPs were on the Copperbelt with the President, abandoning their elected constitutional duty to deliberate on matters affecting their communities in Parliament,” Mr. Mwanza said.
He adds that the collapse of the quorum is repetition of what happened during the Patriotic Front (PF) reign where they failed to deliberate on important issues at that time and decided to escort then president Edgar Lungu to Livingstone.
He is of the view that going forward Zambia, should consider changing the system of electing MPs as well as the system of choosing ministers to enable MPs to stick to executing their duties in Parliament.
