MPs To Lose Allowances, Barred From Parliament For 'Unruly' Behaviour: Mudenda

Speaker of the House of Assembly Jacob Mudenda said that Parliament is currently crafting stringent rules and regulations to deal with legislators who misbehave in Parliament. The development comes after MDC MPs were forcibly removed from the August House on Thursday last week after they were accused of disrespecting President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mudenda warned that ‘unruly’ MPs will be barred from parliament and lose their allowances. He said

We are reviewing our standing rules and orders to make them very stringent so that in future that type of behaviour (is dealt with)… We will invoke very strong censure as what our colleagues have done in Zambia and we shall follow suit and make sure that the standing rules and orders are very tight as far as the expected behaviour of the honourable members.

In Zambia, they have revised their standing rules and orders. For example, when after the elections in 2016 members of the opposition walked out on the President just before he would give his State of the Nation Address, using the revised standing rules and orders the Speaker of the National Assembly in Zambia censured the opposition members by indicating that they would not attend Parliament and would lose their salary for a month.

We need to respect the electorate that has brought us into Parliament and therefore we cannot afford to be involved in undisciplined manners which may detract us from our main constitutional mandate of representation oversight and carrying out the legislative agenda.

Related:

• MDC Slams ‘Violent’ Ejection Of MPs From Parliament

• Opposition MPs Ejected From Parliament For Not Respecting Mnangagwa

• MDC Justifies Why MPs Did Not Stand Up When Mnangagwa Entered Parliament

More: Herald