PF Crisis: Sampa’s presence in Parliament causes commotion among lawmakers

Members of Parliament from the Patriotic Front (PF) were on Thursday not amused by the presence of the expelled Matero lawmaker, Miles Sampa, who attended the full session of Assembly.

This prompted Pambashe lawmaker, Ronald Chitotela, to wonder how the expelled Sampa was allowed to be in the House when the Speaker had been notified about his expulsion.

Sampa, who returned to Parliament for the second time on the PF ticket in 2021 held a general conference on Independence Day where he was installed as a parallel PF president.

The PF responded by expelling Sampa from the party and wrote to the Speaker that the Matero seat be declared vacant.

It was in this vein that Chitotela said the PF had appointed him as acting Leader of the Opposition in the absence of Mporokoso lawmaker, Brian Mundubile.

Read more: PF finally torn apart? Faction declares Sampa president, another expels him; Court grants restraining order

“I rise on standing orders 131 (7) and 202 (2) and Article 74 of the Constitution which stipulates the privileges of Members of Parliament. Is this House in order to continue to allow him (Mr Sampa) to be in the House when we, the PF expelled him, and the court confirmed it by way of an injunction?” Chitotela asked as UPND lawmakers heckled and those from PF cheered him on.

UPND Luena lawmaker, Mubita Anakoka, also rose on a point of order to question why the PF had disregarded Sampa who had purportedly replaced the Leader of the Opposition, Mundubile, with Mafinga lawmaker, Robert Chabinga.

“The leadership of PF, Miles Sampa, has appointed Mr Robert Chabinga as its new Leader of the Opposition. Are they in order, to disregard the directive from their leader?” Anakoka asked.

But PF Bwacha lawmaker, Sydney Mushanga, said the interest in Sampa’s case by the UPND was very suspicious.

But first Deputy Speaker, Malungo Chisangano, reserved her ruling as the matter was now before the courts of law.

“This matter is still in court. Let us wait for the ruling from the courts. For now, it is difficult to comment on this matter,” Chisangano said.

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