Hon Members will recall that on Friday, 14^th December, 2018, when the House was considering Supplementary Estimates No. 2 of 2018, and the Member of Parliament for Liuwa Parliamentary Constituency was debating, Dr C. K. Kalila, Member of Parliament for Lukulu East Parliamentary Constituency raised the following Point of Order:

“Mr Speaker, thank you very much for allowing me an opportunity to raise a Point of Order. As you have come to notice, I rarely use this avenue which is available to Hon. Members of Parliament when they feel that our Standing Orders have been breached. In this particular instance, I stand on a Point of Order as a result of a breach of Standing Order No. 53, which I shall quote:

“A member shall, in debating any matter, ensure that the information he or she provides to the House is factual and verifiable.”

Mr Speaker, I also have a verbatim report of the debate which was given by Hon. Mubukwanu, the Acting Hon. Minister for Western Province, during the debate for Provincial Heads and I would like to quote his statement:

 “Mr Mubukwanu: Mr Chairperson, I want to indicate that on the Lukulu/Katunda Road, the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development has assured me that a total of K1.2 billion has been allocated and come April next year, a contractor should take possession of the site.”

Mr Speaker, it is public knowledge that we are all currently appropriating resources for various sectors of our economy, including the provinces. A perusal of the Yellow Book indicates that there is no such an amount of K1.2 billion allocated. Instead, there is only K2 million, which is not even enough for patching or grading the entire road.

Mr Speaker, I wondered whether Hon. Members of Parliament are in order to breach their own Standing Orders, in particular Standing Order No. 53, which I quoted. I went on to quote the verbatim statement by the Hon. Minister to the effect that the Ministry of Works and Supply had made a provision of K1.2 billion for the upgrading of the Lukulu/Katunda Road. The nature of the statement required verification. Ultimately, I did some research and I have come to the conclusion that there is no such provision. Instead, there is only K2 million which is not adequate.

Therefore, my Point of Order is whether the Hon. Minister is in order to mislead this House by providing information that is not only unverifiable, but not available in the Yellow Book. Secondly, even if such information was given to him, is the Executive in order to make a promise of K1.2 billion to him and not avail such an amount of money in the Yellow Book?

Mr Speaker, I seek your serious ruling.”

In my immediate response, I reserved my ruling to enable me to study the matter. Hon Members, I have studied the matter and now proceed to render my ruling.

Hon Members, the Point of Order by Dr Kalila, MP, raises the issue of a member’s duty to ensure that the information he or she provides to the House, when debating, is factual and verifiable.

Hon Members, you are aware that although section 3 of the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act, Cap 12 of the Laws of Zambia guarantees members freedom of speech and debate in the Assembly, such freedom is subject to the rules of the House in that what is stated in the House should be factual, verifiable and should be substantiated.  

Hon Members, as correctly cited by Dr Kalila, MP, in his Point of Order, Standing Order 53 (1) of the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders, 2016 provides as follows:

“53. (1) A member shall, in debating any matter, ensure that the information he or she provides to the House is factual and verifiable.”

Further, Chapter 3 of the National Assembly Member’s Handbook 2006 states as follows at page 13:

“Members must not allege specific matters of fact as being true unless they are able to substantiate them.”

Hon Members, may I take this opportunity to reiterate the position on this matter as stated by my predecessor in the matter of R Musokotwane and  Hon M. L. Kaingu  (Parliamentary Debates of the Third Meeting of the First Session of the Ninth National Assembly, 16^thJanuary to 27^th March, 2009), at page 3111, as follows:

 “Hon Members, while freedom of speech and action in the House are said to be unquestioned and free, there are certain restraints on the use of the right within the walls of the House. The rules of the House demand that any information provided to the House must be factual. It is an offence punishable by the House for any person to willfully mislead the House.”

Hon Members, I had recourse to the Parliamentary debate on Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for Wednesday, 12^th December, 2018. During consideration of Head 94: Office of the President-Western Province, Hon Mubukwanu, MP, acting as Minister for Western Province stated as follows:

“Mr Chairperson, I also want to indicate that on the Lukulu/Katunda Road, the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development has assured me that a total of K1.2 billion has been allocated and come April next year, a contractor should take possession of the site.”

Further, Hon Members, perusal of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the Year 1^st January, 2019 to 31^st December, 2019, Volume 1, Programme 1012, under Head 54/03- Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development, at page 817, indicates that a total of K1, 150, 000.00 was allocated for construction of Stately infrastructure. Furthermore, perusal of Head 86 on Western Province, at pages 1094 to 1128, indicates no allocation for the rehabilitation of the Lukulu/Katunda Road.

Hon Members, it is evident from the verbatim record that the Acting Hon Minister for Western Province made reference to the allocation of K1.2 billion for the rehabilitation of the Lukulu/Katunda road during his debate on Western Province. However, this statement was made based on the assurance he received from the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development.

Hon Members, the Constitution of Zambia, Chapter 1 of the Laws of Zambia, empowers the Legislature to perform an oversight role on the Executive arm of Government. To ensure that the oversight role is achieved, the Constitution, under Article 80, empowers the National Assembly to establish parliamentary committees.  A parliamentary committee system ensures that the Executive is accountable to Parliament by conducting surveillance on defined areas of Government administration and governance.

In this regard, there are a total of twenty-two (22) parliamentary committees and one of these committees is the Committee on Government Assurances which is mandated to scrutinise the assurances made by the Executive.The Committee is established under Standing Order No. 155, which provides as follows:

“155.(1) There is hereby established the Committee on Government Assurances appointed by the Standing Orders Committee.

(2) The Committee shall-

(a)scrutinise the assurances, promises and undertakings and other matters related to the foregoing given by Ministers or the Vice-President from time to time on the floor of the House.”

Further, Bryan A Garner, Editor-in-Chief of the Blacks Law Dictionary, Ninth Edition, (USA, Thompson Reuters 2009) defines assurance at page 144, as follows:

“Something that gives confidence; the state of being confident or secure; a pledge or guarantee.”

In addition, Bryan A Garner defines undertaking at page 1665, as follows:

        “A promise, pledge, or engagement.”

Hon Members, road infrastructure falls under the mandate of the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development. This information is contained in the Government Gazette Notice No. 836 of 2016, and I urge all Members of Parliament to acquaint themselves with it so as to have a clear understanding of the mandate of various Ministries. In this regard, the Acting Hon Minister for Western Province made the statement based on the assurance given by the Ministry mandated to deal with road infrastructure, and made no reference to the allocation being provided for in the Yellow Book. In this regard, according to the authorities cited, an assurance must have been made on the Floor of the House by the Minister responsible for Housing and Infrastructure Development or the Vice-President, for it to qualify as an assurance which the relevant Committee would follow-up on.

Hon Members, I will now address the second limb of Dr Kalila, MP’s Point of Order in relation to the Executive’s assurance without providing for the allocation in the Yellow Book. It is not in dispute that the budget is an important part of maintaining control of a government's finances and a means of achieving the financial reporting objective of accountability. However, Hon Members, outside the Yellow Book, Government may enter into various partnerships with either co-operating partners or formation of public-private partnerships, among others, to achieve a particular objective. Accordingly, the Executive is not restricted to funds allocated for various programmes in the Yellow Book as it has other forms of generating revenue to achieve certain objectives.

Hon Members, having said that, it is clear that the then Acting Hon Minister for Western Province did not mislead the House by providing information that was given by way of an assurance by the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development, as the Executive may have recourse to other avenues of sourcing funds outside the Yellow Book.

Finally, Hon Members, if indeed Dr Kalila, MP, requires clarity on the matter of the funds dedicated to rehabilitation of the Lukulu/Katunda Road, he is at liberty to file a question to the Minister responsible for Housing and Infrastructure Development.

That is my ruling

I thank you.