The Zambian parliament will not be debating a motion scheduled for Wednesday seeking to impeach President Edgar Lungu.
The Zambian main opposition party, United Party for National Development (UPND) last week filed a motion pushing for Lungu’s impeachment accusing him of constitutional breaches.
Zambia’s parliament has 166 members and the opposition requires the backing of two-thirds of the lawmakers to have its motion succeeding.
According to details of the notice filed by the opposition, it accused Lungu of abrogating the constitution by not handing over power to the speaker of the national assembly when the opposition challenged his victory in court in 2016.
But the Clerk of the National Assembly wrote to the UPND parliamentary Chief Whip who filed the motion stating that “In view of the gravity of the motion, the same is being studied and we shall revert to you in due course.”
The motion is now expected to be debated during the next session of the parliament in June, according to UPND spokesman Charles Kakoma.
The Zambia presidency last week reacted to the motion with the presidential spokesman Amos Chanda telling Reuters that “This is just a continuation of the UPND’s failed court challenge of President Edgar Lungu’s election victory. It is not going anywhere.”
“The UPND knows that the charges are defective and the motion cannot succeed but still brought it because they are not interested in the political dialogue,” he added.
Source: Africafeeds.com
