Don’t use Parliament for retribution – Chanda

By ADRIAN MWANZA

DON’T turn Parliament into a place of retribution against political rivals, says New Congress Party President Pastor Peter Chanda.

Pastor Chanda in an interview accused the ruling UPND of using parliament to settle old scores and a case in point was the recent suspension of Patriotic Front (PF) MPs who were suspended for 30 days.

He said it was wrong for the Speaker to suspend the PF MPs for protesting after the executive attempted to bring for consideration a head of expenditure which was based on a non-existent constitutional provision.

He said it was evident that the UPND were trying to use the house for retribution because the PF MPs were just expressing their democratic right.

“I feel these people are trying to turn Parliament into a mockery of justice and are trying to inflict damage on their opponents just because some of their MPs were ejected some time back,” Pastor Chanda said.

He said that there was need to be serious when dealing with such matters and not engage in petty politics that did not take the country anywhere.

He urged the PF to fight this injustice tooth and nail because if this was left unchecked it could cause serious problems.