UPND MPS SLAMMED OVER PARLEY WALKOUT
UPND Members of Parliament must sober up and start acting like matured politicians by desisting from walking out of parliament each time the agenda they are pushing fails, the Zambian DNA has charged.
The DNA said the MPs were paid to represent their constituencies and not to advance personal interests and therefore walking out was just as sign of immaturity.
UPND Members of Parliament last week walked out of the House in protest of the National Health Insurance Bill Number 22 of 2017 that was under consideration before it could pass a second reading. But despite the walk-out, the bill passed a second reading and Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya is scheduled to present the bills committee stage on Friday next week.
The PF MPs debated in favour of the bill while UPND MPs, who rose to debate the bill, vehemently opposed it.
But after the debates and before the bill could pass second reading, a horde of UPND Members of Parliament, led by party whip Gary Nkombo, stormed out of the House in protest.
But speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Zambian DNA spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa said it was shameful that MPs who had been given a representative mandate by the electorates were walking out of Parliament each time their views failed, saying doing so simply showed how primitive and immature such individuals were.
Mr. Mulemwa said his organisation was disappointed that despite UPND being the main opposition political party, it had continued employing schoolboy tactics in expressing their disagreements even when the MPs knew very well that democracy demanded that the majority won.
“Walking out of parliament does not offer any solution to any problem and is simply a show of irresponsibility and immaturity. We expect the UPND MPs not to follow bad trends that were set by some MPs when they were in the opposition but to sober up and realise that they are in that House to represent their electorates and not to fight with each other.
“What have they achieved by staying way? “We need MPs who understand why they are in that House. We need maturity if MPs from the opposition will make any positive impact in their quest to provide checks and balances otherwise, their input in the development of this country will be very minimal if they continue on this path of politicking,” Mr. Mulemwa said.
He said the Zambian DNA supported the National Health Insurance Bill because it provided hope for better health services to the ordinary Zambians who did not have the financial muscle to access better services.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mulemwa expressed disappointment at the UPND’s decision to stay away from the International Women’s Day celebrations, saying the challenges that women faced were the same despite different political affiliations.