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THE stripping of former President Rupiah Banda of his immunity did not go well with Petauke member of Parliament (MP) Dora Siliya, who did not only walk out of the House but brandished her middle finger three times at the remaining MPs, including the Speaker.
The controversial former minister of Communications and Transport, who is facing criminal charges related to the sale of Zamtel to a Libyan company, was one of the last opposition MPs to walk out on the Speaker as he was making a ruling on the motion to strip the former President of his immunity.
Dressed in a scarlet attire, Ms Siliya raised her middle finger three times – an offensive gesture – which could have been difficult not to be noticed by MMD national secretary Kapembwa Simbao, who was right behind her.
Ms Siliya – a close ally of Mr Banda – resigned in 2009 at the height of investigations into her dealings over Zamtel, but was reinstated by the former President.
The Dennis Chirwa Tribunal constituted to investigate three counts of corruption by the minister found her wanting in the matter in which she allegedly acted against the Constitution by awarding a contract to RP Capital and Partners of Cayman Islands to value the assets of Zamtel, a parastatal.
President Banda, however, described as nonsensical the assertions that Ms Siliya was fraudulently managing the privatisation of Zamtel.
“As to the argument that she [Ms Siliya] did it illegally, that is nonsense. First of all, when the Attorney General gives an opinion, he does not give the opinion to the public. The opinion given by the Attorney General is given to the particular client. If the Vice-President writes to the Attorney General and say ‘I want your opinion on this’, the Attorney General must write that letter to him. And if the minister writes to the Attorney General, the Attorney General must reply to her, not to the public. So just that should worry you as Zambians that your country has become so lawless that everything that is discussed in Government offices, letters are exchanged and proliferated and given to the whole world. How are you going to run this country? It is something which, again, falls in the line of indiscipline, which means that there is a lot of indiscipline around. People are peddling Government documents. So we will find a way to stop this,” President Banda said on February 9, 2009.
That could explain Ms Siliya’s reaction to the impeding arrest of Mr Banda but she may face sanctions from the Speaker for her lewd gesture on Friday.
Parliament on Friday stripped the former President of his immunity paving way for his prosecution.
Opposition MPs vehemently opposed the motion and walked out when it was evident that the motion would go through since the ruling party has the majority MPs in the House.
“This matter is before the High Court of Zambia and I don’t think it is in order for this House to debate it because that would be prejudicial,” argued Monze MP Jack Mwiimbu (UPND).
But Mr Matibini said the motion is an internal matter which should be presented and that Parliament enjoys freedom of autonomy.
The opposition eventually walked out of the House but some of them returned later and were present during the vote, which had 80 MPs in favour, 3 against and 4 abstaining.
