HH attack on speaker slammed

‘‘It is wrong for the UPND leader to insult the intelligence of the Speaker and the National Assembly on the process he purposefully refused to be part of.’’

HAKAINDE Hichilema’s attacks on the Speaker of the National Assembly is hypocritical, disrespectful, petty, and ridiculous especially that he had an opportunity to have an input in the same bills he is discrediting but refused, Wright Musoma has charged.

And Mr. Musoma has asked Mr. Hichilema to expel Mazabuka central Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo for breaching Parliamentary privileges by presenting a forged letter to the National Assembly if he was truly a constitutionalist. Commenting on Mr. Hichilema’s attacks on the Speaker of the National Assembly, Patrick Matibini in which he described the Constitution amendment as a sham process, Mr. Musoma, who is ZRP leader, said Mr. Hichilema was being mischievous. He said it was wrong for the UPND leader to insult the intelligence of the Speaker and the National Assembly on the process he purposefully refused to be part of. He said any reasonable opposition political party leader would have grabbed the opportunity to refine the Constitution so that he could have an input in the legal framework of the country he intended to lead other than insulting those facilitating the process. “It is a big shame that Mr. Hichilema’s frustrations have now taken him to attacking the Honourable Speaker over a process he should have been part of but because of his ego where he thinks everything must be about partisan politics, he stayed away. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Mr. Hichilema is insulting respected institutions. He has insulted the judiciary each time he lost court cases. The fact that Zambians have rejected him does not mean that he must vent his anger on innocent people. The office of the Speaker must be respected and anyone ridiculing him is insulting Zambians,” Mr. Musoma said. Meanwhile, Mr. Musoma has challenged Mr. Hichilema to fire Mr. Nkombo for misleading Parliament when he presented a forged letter purported to be from Zesco. “Mr. Nkombo presented to Praliment, a forged letter and misled Zambians into believing that the ruling party was involved in corruption with its parastatals. He was found wanting and only escaped punishment at the mercy of the same Speaker that Mr. Hichilema is insulting today. “Why doesn’t Mr. Hichilema expel Mr. Nkombo from his party since he is projecting himself as a constitutionalist and a perfectionist? Can you now see the double standards he is playing? he asked