YOU’VE NO IMMUNITY
…Mutti risks future prosecution for defying ConCourt, warns Lubinda
By Mast Reporter
TIME will come when Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti will be made to account for her conduct while serving in Parliament, the Patriotic Front (PF) has warned.
Acting PF president Given Lubinda said Mutti should not forget that she did not have immunity from prosecution under Zambian law.
Lubinda said when he addressed the media in Lusaka Monday one day Mutti would be made to account for her illegal conduct.
“A Parliament that defies the Judiciary is a Parliament that has declared war on the Constitution. And currently, under Nelly Mutti [the] Parliament of Zambia has declared war against the Constitution. And I’d like to advise Speaker of the National Assembly: you, too, do not have immunity and the seed that you sow shall germinate and it shall be known by its fruit. And the time shall come when all these atrocities shall be atoned for,” Lubinda warned.
He said by defying the Judiciary, Parliament had declared war on the Constitution and the people of Zambia.
Lubinda said Mutti did not have the powers to disregard court orders, warning that any such conduct was detrimental to the rule of law.
“You have no power to go against the Constitutional Court of Zambia and you have no power to force the passage of any bill that is totally unconstitutional. You cannot hide behind the fact that the bill is before Parliament. No, the Constitutional Court already declared that the start of that bill in itself was unconstitutional, and whatever is declared poisonous in its start shall also be poisonous in its end,” he said.
Lubinda, who is also acting chairperson of the opposition Tonse Alliance was shocked that Parliament could table a bill which had no impact on the poverty reduction, high cost of living and welfare of the people.
He said it was disheartening to see Parliament wanting to increase the number of its members when Zambians were wallowing in poverty.
“And this Parliament, by the way, in a country that is facing so many crises, where prices are skyrocketing, where the cost of living is soaring, we have a Parliament which instead of debating real issues, issues about bread prices, about job losses, about national debt, our Parliament has now been turned into an arena led by the Vice President herself and followed by ministers and some of their back-benchers hurling insults at a former president,” Lubinda said.
Delivering ruling on a point of order in Parliament on July 9, Mutti said the Constitutional Court or any other external body could not stop a process of enacting a bill which had already been presented in the House.
On June 27 the Constitutional Court declared that the foundational stage of the bill was unconstitutional and therefore illegal because there had been no broad consultation with the people as the Constitution demanded.
The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has since sued Nelly Mutti and the National Assembly of Zambia in the Constitutional Court to block the re-introduction of the bill in the House.
