As tensions reached boiling point in the National Assembly Speaker Patrick Matibini was forced to evaluate the role of The Post Newspapers’ self anointed self righteous role following the standoff that saw opposition parliamentarians stage a boycott over the constitution making process.
Opposition MMD Chembe Member of Parliament Mwansa Mbulakulima rose on a point of order wondering why The Post Newspaper was attempting to direct The Speaker to punish opposition Members of Parliament for raising the flag on the executive following failed progress on the constitution making process.
The opposition MPs had disrupted proceedings chanting constitution, constitution until proceedings were twice prematurely adjourned.
Mbulakulima cited the editorial comment of March, 7 that seemed to direct the Speaker to act in a particular way as having breached the basic tenets of journalism.
The Speaker reserved ruling noting indication that he had noted the reportage by certain media (who are his friends and installed him on the National Assembly throne) over proceedings in parliament.
Below is the editorial that is one of many that The Post ran as they attempted to discredit the opposition’s fight for a people driven constitution.
Speaker and unruly MPs
By Editor
Fri 07 Mar. 2014,
Our National Assembly, our Parliament can only carry out its mandate if there is discipline.
And if there is no discipline in our Parliament, no real progress can be made. Discipline is the most powerful weapon to get things done, to get work done.
Within our Parliament, democracy is correlative with the
constitutional authority of the Speaker and freedom of the members with discipline. They are the two opposites of a single entity, contradictory as well as united, and we should not one-sidedly emphasise one to the denial of the other.
Within our Parliament, we cannot do without the freedom of the members to debate, nor can we do without discipline; we cannot do without democracy, nor can we do without the constitutional authority of the Speaker.
This unity of freedom and discipline, of democracy and of the
constitutional authority of the Speaker, is what gives our Parliament its integrity, its influence. Under this system, our members of parliament may enjoy extensive democracy and freedom to debate issues, but at the same time, they have to keep within the bounds of parliamentary discipline.
We are increasingly seeing diminishing levels of discipline in our Parliament, in the House. This is much more so from the opposition members of parliament.
The first signs of this Parliament’s indiscipline started when the motion to remove Rupiah Banda’s presidential immunity so that he could be investigated and prosecuted for corruption and other abuses of office was tabled in the House. MMD and UPND members of parliament opposed this motion but knowing that the numbers were not in their favour, they became unruly. What they could not achieve through democratic means, they wanted to get it through unruly conduct. But they failed.
Their behaviour was so bad that the Speaker’s tolerance had to be stretched to the utmost. And seldom have we seen in this country such strength of character in a Speaker as that which was exhibited by Dr Patrick Matibini. But in this strength also lay a weakness.
By tolerating that mischief, that unruly conduct, Dr Matibini opened a fissure that is today being exploited without respite by the same opposition members of parliament to disrupt that which they don’t like or think they cannot achieve through civil and obedient approaches.
They got away with unruly conduct during the immunity motion and they now believe that’s the way business is conducted under Speaker Matibini.
This is certainly not the way our Parliament should conduct its
business. There is need to affirm anew the discipline of the House.
Members of parliament should subordinate themselves to the Standing Orders of the House. The minority in the House should accept that the majority carry the day on any motion. They can debate the motion to the utmost but at the end of the day, they should accept that the majority has the final say.
And this is where lobbying is important. When you don’t have the numbers to oppose or carry on a motion successfully, there is need to lobby others, to build some consensus with others.
Consensus building, coalition building is the essence of
democratic action. We say this because it teaches members of
parliament with different partisan affiliations to negotiate with others, to compromise and to work within the constitutional system.
And by doing so, they learn how to argue peaceably, how to pursue their goals in a democratic manner and ultimately how to work in a parliament that is diverse.
It is for this reason that the culture of democracy is so important to develop. Our Parliament is not a battlefield but a platform for managing differences. If we all thought the same way, looked at things the same way, believed in the same things, there would probably be no need for Parliament.
Our Parliament is there to help us manage our differences and come out with decisions that all parties – whether they agree with them or not – will accept and respect as legitimate.
Whoever violates our Parliament’s Standing Orders undermines the
authority, integrity and prestige of our Parliament. Whoever violates the House’s rules of discipline disrupts order and should not be tolerated.
If you don’t have the numbers in the House to carry out your
decisions, that shouldn’t drive you to unruly behaviour. One
requirement of democratic discipline is that the minority should
submit to the majority. If your political party does not have the majority in Parliament, the most you can do is to go and campaign very hard so that at the next elections or by-elections, you increase your seats.
If the view of the minority in the House has been rejected, it must respect the decision passed by the majority. If necessary, the minority can bring up the matter for consideration at another time allowed by the rules of Parliament, but apart from that, the minority must not act against the decision of the majority through the unruly conduct that we have been witnessing of late.
Our members of parliament must heighten their sense of discipline and resolutely carry out the orders of the Speaker and the House’s rules of discipline.
The Speaker should also not permit, as he has been doing so far,
breaches of discipline in the House.
And discipline is not about the decisions or issues one agrees with.
Discipline matters most when it comes to things we don’t like, to decisions we disagree with. No one has problems obeying orders and rules he or she likes, agrees with. The challenge comes when we disagree, when we don’t like something, and this is where discipline matters the most.
Those who violate disciplinary codes deserve to be punished. And such punishment is for the good of the institution, for the collective good of everyone. If anarchy, unruliness is allowed to rule the House, the end result will be disastrous, will be veritable chaos.
What the opposition members did deserves to be punished, must be
punished. A clear message needs to be sent that no indiscipline will be tolerated. It doesn’t make sense for one to belong to a parliament he or she does not respect, he or she does not like.
Those who are not willing to respect the Standing Orders must leave. If they are not willing to leave on their own, they must be kicked out.
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