I FEEL SORRY FOR MUTTI
…she will be the first ex-speaker to be arrested
By Adrian Mwanza
NELLY Mutti will be the first speaker of the National Assembly to be arrested for breaking the law, Chiengi Member of Parliament Given Katuta has predicted.
Speaking when she featured on Prime TV’s Matters Arising programme at the weekend, Katuta said there was too much illegality in Parliament.
The Speaker was not doing anything to correct the situation but was the one perpetuating it.
She said she felt sorry for Mutti because she risked being arrested for breaching the Constitution once there was a change of government.
“But I fear for my Speaker. she’ll be the first former speaker to get arrested. She will be the first former speaker to be arrested for breaching our constitution,” Katuta said.
She said the three arms of government should be independent from one another and practise the separation of powers in an impartial manner.
“If you look at the three arms of government, of governance of this country, it’s the President, the Executive, the Legislature, then we have the Judiciary. These three, the ones who are heading these, we expect them to respect our Constitution. To uphold our Constitution. The rest of us can even breach the Constitution, but these, we expect them to be like Jesus [Christ]. To be pure,” Katuta said.
She said the issue of members of Parliament crossing the floor was a clear illegality because those who had crossed the floor needed to vacate their seats.
Katuta said it was shocking to note that the Speaker had allowed them to continue sitting and receiving allowances and other emoluments in total disregard of the law.
She said it was the first time in the history of the country bills were being passed without due diligence for political expedience.
“If you look at even the way they are passing the bills, it has never happened. I’ve been in this House for 10 years. The first five years I was leaning under the leadership of [Patrick] Matibini. We are talking about laws of the country, and you do them like it’s a song. Like [speaking in] tongues as Pentecostals. That’s how the bills are being passed,” Katuta said.
“You watch. Just like that, 76 bills in a week’s time should pass. What kind of leadership is that? I would rather say, we’ll only rise or dissolve parliament once we’ve done the right job.”
Katuta said although she was happy that Mutti was the first female Speaker, she (Mutti) had not lived up to her expectations.
She said Mutti had proved to be partisan and was not upholding the Constitution as her office demanded.
“And to make matters worse, most or the majority of PF [Patriotic Front] and independent MPs have defected. They are what we call in my language, musumina yote. Meaning they agree to everything. Musumina yote is everything. You just agree to anything. Not questioning. And that is what is happening in that Parliament,” Katuta said.
She said the issue of Bill 7 had been contentious because it had many dictatorial clauses only benefiting the current government.
On Sunday, Mutti dropped a bombshell in Parliament when she defended opposition MPs who have publicly defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) saying there was no evidence to prove that they had crossed the floor.
She was ruling on a point of order on why the MPs had continued attending Parliament proceedings and drawing emoluments from the Treasury when they had defected to the UPND in violation of Article 72 of the Constitution.
