Bill 7 has returned through the backdoor- Fube

Patriotic Front Chilubi Member of Parliament Mulenga Fube says he is ready to be suspended from Parliament for insisting that Bill 7 has been brought back to the House through an illegal process.

Mr. Fube has argued that the Constitutional Court, one of the country’s highest courts, clearly ruled that the method previously used to handle Bill 7 was wrong a message he says Parliament has ignored by reactivating the same Bill with the same content.

He said the Court has already spoken to the legality of the standing procedures, making Parliament’s latest action improper.

“We should not have started with the Bill. We should have started with consulting the people first,” he said, adding that this makes the Technical Committee on Constitutional Amendments appointed by President Hakainde Hichilema appear to have been “just for academic purposes” because, on the same day it submitted its report, the Speaker announced the reactivation of Bill 7.

Mr. Fube has questioned which version of the Bill Parliament intends to consider, stating that after the Technical Committee’s work, the expectation was that a new Bill still called Bill 7 but with different content would be drafted and tabled.

“Instead, government has climbed the tree using the leaves,” he said.

He has maintained that the process is illegal, stating plainly: “I am calling it illegal with a straight face because it has taken an illegal route.”

Mr. Fube has warned that the country risks producing an illegal law because the procedure being used is unconstitutional.

“Yes, Parliament has the right to make laws,” he said. “But it also has the obligation to follow the Constitution. If the Constitution is defiled, then Parliament is sitting illegally while dealing with it.”

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