By EditorZambia
PATRIOTIC Front (PF) faction members of parliament are kicking up dust after Speaker Nelly Mutti triggered Article 72(8) and formally notified the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to declare the Chawama seat vacant.
The PF MPs’ outrage is loud, emotional, and politically charged but not grounded in the Constitution they swore to uphold. 
Let us call this what it is: a political tantrum dressed up as moral outrage.
Tasila Lungu Mwansa has been out of the country for over five months, tied up in a legal battle in South Africa over the burial of her father, former President Edgar Lungu.
That situation is personally painful and legally complex. But parliamentary seats don’t wait for personal circumstances indefinitely. The Constitution is clear: prolonged absence without permission triggers Article 72(8), and the Speaker has both the authority and the obligation to act accordingly.
The PF faction MPs now shouting “injustice” were silent each time the same Constitution protected their interests. Now that the law cuts against them, suddenly the Speaker is “biased” and “unfair”?
Such double standard is exactly why institutional credibility in Zambia keeps taking unnecessary hits.
Here is the hard truth they don’t want to confront: Parliament is not a clubhouse. Seats belong to the people, not individuals.When an MP cannot perform their duties for an extended period whatever the reason the law steps in to protect the constituency from leaderless representation.
Tasila Lungu’s absence is not speculation; it is documented.
The Speaker did not “target” her. She simply followed the rules.
The PF faction MPs insisting otherwise are not defending democracy; they are undermining it.
If anything, this moment exposes a deeper, long-ignored reality: Zambia urgently needs constitutional clarity on how to handle prolonged absences without triggering costly by-elections every time.
Not until the law is changed, the current law stands. The PF MPs know it.Their objection is not legal – it is political.
They are fighting to preserve political ground in Lusaka, a strategic constituency slipping through their fingers.
That is understandable in political terms, but it doesn’t make their argument valid.
What the country needs now is less posturing and more honesty. Less noise and more respect for the institutions that hold the Republic together.
Tasila Lungu’s case is unfortunate. The constitutional process is not.
