Alliance for Community Action Fact Checking Unit
Claim being checked:
The Republican President needs recommendation from the Speaker of the National Assembly to further censure a Minister who has been disciplined by the National Assembly.
The Alliance for Community Action Fact Checking Unit verified the statement made by President Edgar Lungu as regards the recent suspension of Lusaka Province Minister, Bowman Lusambo, for an act of violence against Roan Member of Parliament, Chishimba Kambwili. After the suspension, Hon Lusambo stated on his Facebook page which was then reported by various media houses to include News Diggers, Mwebantu and the Hot FM Breakfast Show, that, even though he had been suspended from Parliament, he did not regret the act of violence as it was carried out in defence of the Republican President. In a statement reported by the Zambia Daily Mail, and whose audio is available online, the President suggested that he needed recommendation from the Speaker of the National Assembly to further discipline the Minister who had failed to show remorse. The Daily Mail reported that, “The Head of State wished that the Speaker of the National Assembly had recommended to the Executive additional reprimand against the Kabushi Legislator” because he deserved further punishment as he was unrepentant.
Verification Process
The ACA Fact Checking Unit looked at the Constitutional provisions regarding the powers of the President over Ministers, as well as the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act No.13 of 2016, under which Hon Lusambo was suspended by the Speaker and found as follows:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) ACT NO.13 OF 2016
Section 28 (2) Where a member is found to have committed contempt of the Assembly of a serious nature and none of the other penalties are sufficient for the contempt committed by the member, the Speaker shall, on the resolution of the Assembly, suspend the member from the Assembly for a period not exceeding thirty days.
REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION
Article 8 The National Values and Principles
The national values and principles are
- Morality and ethics
(e) Good governance and integrity
Article 91 Presidency and Vesting of Executive Authority
(3) The President shall in the exercise of the executive authority of the state:
- respect, uphold and safeguard this constitution
(f) uphold the rule of law.
Article 117 Provincial Minister
(1) The President shall appoint a Provincial Minister for each Province from among
Members of Parliament.
(2) The office of the Provincial Minister becomes vacant if:
(a) the Provincial Minister is removed from office by the President.
FINDING
The ACA Fact Checking Unit finds that the President does not need recommendation from the Speaker to carry out his executive authority over a Minister. It also finds that the President rather must be guided by the constitutional values and principles some of which have been flouted by Hon Bowman Lusambo, first, in the act of violence, and, secondly, in publicly refusing to show remorse after his punishment. We find that the President has absolute discretion in his ability to censure a Minister.
We therefore find that the claim made by the President that he needed the Speaker to recommend further censure for Lusaka Provincial Minister, Bowman Lusambo, for his act of violence and further non-repentance, to be FALSE
ACA Fact Checking Unit: Building a questioning public.
The ACA Fact checking Unit is part of the EU funded ‘Speak up Zambia Project’ implemented in collaboration with the Freepress Unlimited and the House of consciousness.