Mundubile hails Lungu over appointment

FORMER Northern Province Minister Brian Mundubile has thanked President Edgar Lungu for the confidence he has bestowed on him by appointing him to a challenging position of Government Chief Whip.

Speaking in an interview at his office in Lusaka Tuesday, Mr. Mundubile said he was grateful to President Lungu for considering him for the job.

Mundubile, who is also PF chairman for legal and Mporokoso lawmaker explained that as Government Chief Whip, he was also a member of the Cabinet and said his role entailed coordinating Cabinet with PF business in Parliament.

“As Chief Whip, my role is also to harmonise relations with other various Whips as well as being responsible for discipline and advise government on Party business” he explained.

Mr. Mundubile who was recently transferred from Northern Province where he was the Provincial Minister after his appointment as Chief Whip said he was also responsible for many other functions at Parliament which included granting permission to MPs who wanted to be absent from the National Assembly on various other businesses.

Among other functions included keeping MPs upto-date with information on Parliamentary business and liaises between Ministers,

“You know sometimes as a Party, you will require to select speakers to debate effectively on some issues and you also need to ensure that numbers are sufficient in case of voting in Parliament”

“Low numbers can be very challenging, so you have to sanction all trips whether abroad of local otherwise you will be handicapped. My role requires an early start always as I always have to have several caucuses with MPs,” he said.

And Mundubile has said the Constitutional Amendment Bill which passed first reading in Parliament would require witnesses to make submissions at committee stage as it progresses.