Speaker reverses UPND MP’s suspension

Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has reversed the suspension of UPND Namwala Member of Parliament Moono Lubezhi who was suspended together with 47 other opposition party lawmakers for boycotting the President’s state of the nation address.

This is after it was established that Ms Lubezhi had obtained permission from the Government Chief Whip for leave of absence from the house to enable her attend to her court case on 16^th and 17^th March, 2017.

Ruling on a point of order raised by UPND Mbabala Member of Parliament Ephraim Belemu on whether the house was in order to have passed a resolution to suspend the 48 UPND Members of Parliament based on defective facts and which appear to victimize UPND members on account of affiliation to the party and not on facts, Dr Matibini noted that the Namwala lawmaker was expressly granted authority to be absent from the house by the Chief Whip.

He says therefore Ms Lubezhi’s inclusion on the list of the 48 UPND suspended Members of Parliament was both inadvertent and regrettable.

Dr Matibini has since amended his ruling of 13^th June, 2017 to reflect the fact that the Namwala lawmaker was absent from the house with permission.