Change Of Sitting Arrangement As Parliament Opens Tomorrow

By Paul Shalala

Inonge Wina

The Second Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Eleventh National Assembly opens in Lusaka tomorrow with a lot of visible changes in terms of numbers and sitting arrangement following nullification of seats, a presidential election and the selection of a new Cabinet from within the house. 

The house opens shortly after the January 20 Presidential Election which saw then Chawama Member of Parliament Edgar Lungu take on the mantle to lead the nation until the next scheduled General Elections somewhere in 2016.

As the house opens, the house will have a new leader in the name of Inonge Wina, Zambia’s first ever female Republican Vice President.

As leader of Government Business in the house, Mrs Wina, who is also Nalolo Member of Parliament, will be on the receiving end of the 30 minutes Vice President’s Question Time every Friday morning as opposition MPs and ruling party backbenchers ask her questions of national interest.

Mrs Wina, who in the last meeting of Parliament sat on on the front row near the alley way as Gender Minister, will now move closer to the Speaker on the right and sit in between the Ministers of Justice and Finance to lead government affairs in the house.

Dr. Guy Scott

With the dissolution of the Michael Sata-appointed Cabinet and the swearing in of the new one, MPs who are now serving in Cabinet will change seats to occupy their new statuses in the house while those who have maintained their Cabinet portfolios will remain in their usual seats.

Significant among the new entrants to the Speaker’s right on the front seats are Chipili MP Davies Mwila who will move from the backbench to the front bench and seat to the left side of the Vice President.

Kabwata MP Given Lubinda will also move from the backbench to sit on the Speaker’s left side front row to occupy his seat as Agriculture Minister.

Zambezi West MP Christabel Ngimbu, who is just five months old in the house, will leave her seat at the backbench and move to the Speaker’s right handside and occupy her front row seat as Lands Minister.

Vincent Mwale

Opposition MMD lawmakers Vincent Mwale of Chipangali and Dr. Michael Kaingu of Mwandi will cross the floor from the Speaker’s left to the right to occupy their front row seats as they are now serving as Sports Minister and Education Minister respectively. 

Nominated MP Margaret Mwanakatwe, who is now Commerce Minister, will also join the right side of the Speaker and she will seat with her Cabinet colleagues.

Another nominated MP Mulenga Sata will seat in the middle seats of the Speaker’s right following his appointment as State House Deputy Minister.

Missing in the Cabinet seats will be Lusaka Central MP Dr. Guy Scott, Bwana Mkubwa MP Emmanuel Chenda, Mpika Central MP Mwansa Kapeya and Nchanga MP Wylbur Simusa who lost their cabinet portfolio.

The quartet will now seat at the backbench since they are now ordinary MPs.

In the middle seats of the Speaker’s right will be new entrants. This is the row that seats Deputy Ministers.

Some of the new entrants are Lupososhi MP Bwalya Chungu (Office of the Vice President Deputy Minister) and Kaputa MP Maxas Ngonga (Agriculture Deputy Minister).

Lukashya MP Elfreda Kansembe (Labour Deputy Minister) and Pambashe MP Ronald Chitotela (Sports Deputy Minister) also make a return to the middle seats after they were dismissed by late President Sata in 2014 as Home Affairs Deputy Minister and Labour Deputy Minister respectively.

UPND Solwezi Central MP Dawson Kafwaya and PF Mkushi South MP will also leave the backbench to seat on the Provincial Ministers seats following their swearing in this month.

Dawson Kafwaya

These two men were elected MPs last year on 11 September during parliamentary by-elections and they are serving as ministers for the first time.

Mufumbwe MP Steven Masumba is expected to make a come back in the house following his pardon by then Acting President Dr. Guy Scott.

Mr Masumba was jailed by the Lusaka Magistrates Court for forging a Diploma but he walked out of the Lusaka Central Prison (Chimbokaila) after Dr. Scott used the prerogative of mercy to release Mr Masumba together with People’s Democratic Party President George Mpombo in December 2014.

Missing from the house will be Daniel Munkombwe who lost his nomination as MP after President Lungu revoked it for supporting UPND President Hakainde Hichilema during this year’s presidential election.

Chisamba MP Moses Muteteka will also be missing from the house as he is still waiting for the courts to rule on his appeal to a jail sentence following his guilty verdict in a motor vehicle case.

For obvious reasons, there wont be an MP from Chawama as the incumbent is now the head of state.

Kapembwa Simbao

Following the adjournment of parliamentary sittings in December last year, two parliamentary seats have been nullified and these are Masaiti which was held by MMD’s Michael Katambo and Senga Hill which was held by MMD’s Kapembwa Simbao.

The two seats will remain vacant when parliament opens tomorrow just.

Other seats which will not be occupied tomorrow in the house are Malambo, Mulobezi and Petauke Central which are still awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether the previous MPs whose election was nullified can recontest the seats.

THE BATTLE FOR CHILANGA AND MPULUNGU

The battles for the Chilanga and Mpulungu parliamentary by-elections have now been declared following the filing of nominations on 7th October, 2010.

In Mpulungu, five candidates successfully filed in to replace late area parliamentarian Lameck Chibombamilimo who died in India a month ago.

These were ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD)’s Given Mungomba, Alex Mwazia of the National Restoration Party (NAREP), Freedom Sikazwe of the Patriotic Front (PF), Germaniko Simusokwe of United National Independence Party (UNIP) and Chilobwela Sinyangwe of the newly formed Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD).

Bearing in mind that the ruling MMD will be campaigning to retain ‘their seat’, the party will fight to the last blood to maintain its dominance in terms of the parliamentary seats it holds in the Northern Province.

Currently, the party has eleven of the 21 parliamentary seats in that province.

Most of these seats are in the northern part of the province and they stretch from Kaputa constituency in the west to Isoka East in the East. 

This means that all parliamentary seats bordering with neighbouring Tanzania are all held by the ruling party.

Mpulungu is right in the heart of the MMD ‘strongholds’ as it is sandwiched between MMD constituencies such as Chimbamilonga, Senga Hill and Mbala.

However, the opposition PF is said to have made impressive in-roads in Mpulungu though they expect a stiff fight if they are to turn the tables to their favour.

The PF is likely to use the hounding out of the late area MP from the MMD as one of their campaign issues.

Late Chibombamilimo was expelled from the party after President Rupiah Banda sacked him as Energy Deputy Minister when he accused him of being loyal to the media and not him.

The President vowed to follow him to his constituency in an event of a by-election but that day never came as the late MP died before his appeal against his expulsion could be disposed off by the courts of law.

In Chilanga constituency, four candidates have entered the race to replace former area member of parliament Ng’andu Magande who was expelled from the party a month ago.

These candidates are ruling MMD’s Keith Mukuta, United Party for National Development (UPND)’s Captain Cosmas Moono, Valerie Mukeleni of NAREP and UNIP’s Henry Silumesi.

With the campaigns already under way, all parties have what it takes to upset tables but the main contest (I think) will be between the MMD and the UPND as these seem to be well grounded on the Chilanga terrain.

This is so because the MMD will be riding at the back of incumbency while the UPND has a former area Member of Parliament as its candidate who a number of electorates may still remember. 

The vast Chilanga constituency borders the following constituencies both in Lusaka and Central Provinces: Katuba, Mwembeshi, Kafue, Kanyama and Chongwe.

It is this vastness which defines the distinct nature of voters in this constituency.

From what I can call Chilanga proper are people who are mostly civil servants and the working class, to the western part of the constituency are farmers and villagers.

Among these people are these various issues that may be at the heart of voters in Chilanga: poverty, farming, security and education.

It is this background that will help any of the four candidates to woo voters and win the seat.

In terms of the significance of the seat to the various political parties, if UPND’s Capt Moono wins, he will be getting back the seat he lost in 2006 and it will be his party’s only seat in the province at present.

If MMD’s Mukata carries the day, he will maintain a seat that his party has held tight since 2006. He will also ensure that the party maintains its five ‘rural’ seats in the entire province.

For NAREP’s Mukeleni, this is the first election the party is taking attempting since its inception early this year. She is likely to be the happiest of all looking at the possible historic significance of this seat to her party.

The country’s independence party UNIP is looking at Chilanga as the second seat they may have in the 150 seat Parliament of Zambia aside of Lundazi which is held by Home Affairs Minister Mkondo Lungu. The Chilanga seat will also help the almost forgotten and once ‘almighty’ party to rekindle its old glory.

As the people of Mpulungu and Chilanga cast their ballots on 30^th August 2010 (if at all the date won’t be changed), their task will be to choose an MP who will listen to their cries for development.

Pundits, commentators and political observers like me will keep an eye on every twist and turn on the campaign trail till the end.

For now, I expect the candidates to campaign wisely with issues and not character assassinations, so that voters can vote wisely irrespective of their party affiliations.

By Paul Shalala