Empty Benches, Broken Promises, & Suspensions

Inside Zambia’s Troubled Parliament

By McStan Ng’andu,

From Katete to Shang’ombo, from Chavuma to Nakonde, citizens still wait for the promises their MPs once made. But inside parliament, empty benches and political theatre are drowning out the voices of the very people who sent them there.

When Agnes Mwale, a small-scale farmer from Mkaika Constituency in Katete, cast her vote in 2021, she did so with conviction. Her MP had promised to speak for rural communities like hers, to ensure timely farming inputs, better feeder roads, and staffed clinics. Four years later, she cannot remember the last time she saw her representative.

“We only see them when someone dies or during campaigns,” she says quietly. “So, who is speaking for us in that house?”

Her frustration echoes across Zambia, where citizens are questioning whether Parliament still represents them, or merely serves the political parties that control it.

The official explanation vs reality

Zambia’s National Assembly has 167 members — 156 elected, eight appointed by the President, and three ex-officio (the Vice-President, Speaker, and one Deputy Speaker). MPs are expected to divide their time between the House and their constituencies, addressing community needs while shaping national policy.

Yet the House has increasingly become an empty shell. Responding to MakanDay’s query on poor attendance, Stephen C. Kawimbe, in a written response on behalf of the Clerk of the National Assembly, said that the absences are often misunderstood. Standing Order 187(1), he explained, allows the house and its committees to sit concurrently, meaning some MPs may appear absent from the main Chamber while in fact attending committee meetings.

“Such instances are often misunderstood by the public as absenteeism, when in fact Members are discharging their parliamentary duties in another forum of the House,” said Kawimbe.

He added that virtual participation under Standing Orders 25(3) and (4) is counted as attendance.

However, MakanDay’s observations during sittings in July and August tell a different story. Parking bays outside Parliament were mostly empty, and on several days fewer than half the MPs were in the Chamber. Late arrivals and early departures were routine.

The Clerk of the National Assembly maintained that attendance records are not published “to avoid misinterpretation,” but assured that internal monitoring systems are in place. However, without public access to these records, questions about accountability remain unanswered.

While the Clerk said attendance data is withheld “to avoid misinterpretation,” he insisted it is monitored internally. Without public disclosure, though, accountability remains opaque.

Some lawmakers admit the issue runs deeper than registers and standing orders. Independent MP Emmanuel Banda of Muchinga Constituency said many MPs “reduce their role to following party instructions,” becoming “delegates without responsibility”.

“Some MPs do represent their people passionately,” Banda said, “but others lose touch the moment they step into Lusaka.”

PF MP Sunday Chanda of Kanchibiya agreed. “If MPs are absent during debates or remain silent when critical laws are passed, whose voice are we hearing? It certainly isn’t the people’s.”

Both men argue that democracy suffers when parliament becomes an echo chamber of party directives instead of citizens’ interests.

“Democracy suffers when MPs become mere extensions of party machinery,” said Chanda. “Party positions matter, but they should never blind us to the constitutional duty we owe to the people.”

Indiscipline and political tensions

Absenteeism is only the surface of a wider malaise. Even when MPs show up, parliamentary sessions often descend into spectacle — walkouts, shouting matches, personal insults, and near-physical fights have become common.

The most recent case involves Nkana MP, Binwell Mpundu, who has been handed two concurrent suspensions, one for 14 days and another for 30 days, after referring to the national assembly as “useless” and calling his Mongu Central counterpart, Oliver Amutike, “mad”.

Another controversy surrounded Jean Chisenga, PF MP for Mambilima, who was allegedly assaulted by ruling-party cadres on 12 September 2025, during President Hakainde Hichilema’s address opening the fifth session. Chisenga, previously suspended twice for indiscipline, declined to respond to MakanDay’s requests for comment.

Two other PF MPs, Francis Kapyanga (Mpika) and Mutotwe Kafwaya (Lunte), were also suspended in September — one for accusing the Speaker’s office of bias, the other for disorderly conduct.

Such episodes, frequent and public, have damaged parliament’s image as a place of reasoned national dialogue.

Dignity in decline

Veteran politicians lament the erosion of parliamentary decorum. Wynter Kabimba, lawyer and former Justice Minister, recalls a time when debates were marked by discipline and mutual respect.

Kabimba described the modern legislature as combative and self-serving.

“Parliament is not a contest between individuals or groups. It is a platform where the opposition, ruling party, and other representatives should converge to resolve issues affecting citizens,” he stressed.

Analysts outside parliament share this view. They see the turmoil not as isolated behaviour, but as a symptom of a deeper institutional sickness rooted in partisanship.

Political analyst Sipho Mwanza observed that Zambia’s legislative dysfunction is rooted in partisanship.

“MPs are often torn between doing what their party wants and what the people need. That tension weakens genuine representation,” he said. “Those who dare to break ranks often face political isolation, suspension, or backlash.”

Civil society alarm

Civil society organisations have also taken notice, warning that without reform, the very idea of representative democracy is at risk.

Groups such as the Alliance for Community Action (ACA) and the Governance, Elections, Advocacy and Research Services Initiative (GEARS Zambia)p have long sounded the alarm over parliament’s falling standards.

Jimmy Maliseni, ACA’s programmes manager, said Zambia’s most disciplined parliament was under the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD).

“Now things have reached a point where MPs are calling each other names using unpalatable language, so you can easily plot deteriorated etiquettes from 2011 to date we are not here by accident,” he said.

“The current mechanisms, where misbehaving MPs are suspended for a few days only to return as though nothing happened, while still getting paid, are not sufficient or fair,” he argued.

Patrick Kaumba, executive director of GEARS Zambia, agreed that little has changed despite transitions of power.

“Debates are still marred by disorderly conduct and walkouts,” he said.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) and National Youth Constitutional Assembly (NYCA) have called for reforms, including stricter enforcement of standing orders and ethical training for MPs, but these proposals have rarely been acted upon.

The people wait

For citizens like Mwale in Katete, the crisis in parliament is not abstract, it is lived. The road to her village is still washed out. The clinic still runs without enough nurses. The farming inputs she hoped her MP would fight for still arrive late.

“Maybe they forget us,” she says. “Maybe once they reach Lusaka, they stop seeing the people who sent them there.”

McStan is a talented journalist based in Choma with Byta FM radio. She recently completed a three-month paid internship at MakanDay after emerging third in the prestigious 2024 MakanDay Media Awards.