By Mubanga Mubanga
Youth and Sports minister Elvis Nkandu says those alleging that PF members of parliament were bribed, should bring out evidence.
There are reports that some PF members of parliament were paid good sums of money to support the bill.
Speaking to Daily Revelation yesterday, following the passing of bill 7 via unanimous vote by the opposition and ruling party on Monday, Nkandu said the MPs were just convinced that bill 7 was a good bill, that is why they voted for it.
“What do you expect from the PF? To them anything that goes wrong, it is the UPND. So, if they were bribed let them bring evidence that people were bribed, instead of just shooting in the air. We did expect them to come out the way they came out,” Nkandu said.
“But, l believe that members of parliament were just convinced that that was just a good bill. You know, us who were interacting with these same individuals.”
Nkandu said bill 7 was a progressive bill.
“You know that bill after we removed the issue of nominations, or resignations, the issue of by-elections, I think even PF members okayed it. They said it was a progressive bill. That is why they supported it. If they had wanted to, they wouldn’t have supported it. But, l know that some of them would want to malign us,” Nkandu said.
“By and large, l think it is a progressive bill which had been supported by well meaning members of parliament. So, what they did l think, it is something that we need to appreciate because they didn’t vote for their political affiliation, they voted for the bill to eventually help the Zambian people in terms of development.”
Nkandu, however, said those who were saying that the people were not happy with bill 7 were not speaking on behalf of the people.
“A lot of Church leaders talked about this, students talked about this, workers talked about this. So, which people are not happy with that bill? And they must not continue abusing the word people, which people? The students spoke, unions also spoke, workers spoke, Churches spoke,” Nkandu said.
“…There could be one or two Churches that may not be able to be positive about it, but a lot of Churches spoke positively about the bill. So which people are we talking about? Chiefs spoke, individuals spoke through their submissions so what else are we looking for.”
Nkandu asked what was wrong with the delimitation of the constitution as it was contained in bill 7.
“What is wrong about delimitation surely? These members of parliament understand more clearly than those that are not members of parliament. Us we understand clearly what delimitation means,” said Nkandu.
“Us we also understand when someone feels that it is not running any more, what happens after that. We do understand. We spend a lot of money, when there is a cancellation of an election, we spend a lot of money. It is like you start afresh.”
