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Wednesday, 11 January 2006 |
The Office of the Deputy Speaker in the National Assembly of Zambia is an honourable office established under Article 70(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia, which states:
There shall be a Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly who shall be elected by the Members of the Assembly from among the Members of the Assembly (The Constitution of Zambia, 1996).
The election of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly is the second business after the election of the Speaker that the new Assembly transacts at its first meeting in accordance with Article 70(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia which states:
The Members of the National Assembly shall elect a person to the Office of the Deputy Speaker when the Assembly first sits after any dissolution of the National Assembly and, if the Office becomes vacant otherwise than by reason of the dissolution of the National Assembly, at the first sitting of the Assembly after the office becomes vacant (The Constitution of Zambia, 1996).
Duties of the Deputy Speaker
The duties of the Deputy Speaker are those enumerated for the Speaker, in the absence of the latter. The Deputy Speaker is also the Chairman of Committees of the whole House. As Chairman of Committee of the whole House, the Deputy Speaker has the following responsibilities when the House resolves into Committee; that is, to guide the House in its deliberations of:
a) the committee stages of all bills under consideration in the House;
b) the estimates of expenditure, in the Committee of Supply, after the budget address by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and when the House considers Supplementary Estimates; and
c) the revenue measures, in the Committee of Ways and Means. This Committee considers taxation measures and bills dealing with taxation or raising of funds, which only comes before the House after the Committee of Ways and Means has agreed to the measures.
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The Deputy Speaker 
