Mwiimbu To Challenge Bill 10 In Court

UPND MP for Monze Central, Jack Mwiimbu, has appealed to the Lusaka High Court to challenge a decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly to allow Constitutional Amendment Bill 10 to be reconsidered in parliament. 

Mr Mwiimbu is seeking a court order to overturn Speaker of the House Patrick Matibini’s decision to allow Bill 10 to be deferred until an as yet undecided date during the current parliamentary session.

If successful, the court ruling would force the speaker to outlaw any further consideration or debate of the controversial bill.

In documents presented to the court, Mr Mwiimbu argues that since more than six months has passed since Bill 10 was first introduced in December 2019, the bill is now null and void according to the constitution.

“The Speaker of the National Assembly did not address his mind to the fact that the Bill had lapsed and erroneously concluded that the National Assembly could proceed with consideration of the Bill,” Mwiimbu said.

Mwiimbu’s challenge comes after Speaker Matibini allowed debate on Bill 10 to continue on June 9th this year, with Chipata Central MP Moses Mawere picking up proceedings from where he had left off prior to the house being adjourned for Covid-19 in March.

Mwiimbu also contends that there is no parliamentary procedure that allows for a bill to be restored after it has been ‘killed’ due to time elapsing. 

The matter has now been referred to the court.