Kampyongo rejects Speaker's ruling, says he is the legitimate Leader of the Opposition

Shiwang'andu MP Stephen Kampyongo has said he is the legitimate Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, a day after Speaker Nelly Mutti told the National Assembly that Dag Hammarskjöld MP Ezra Tembo holds the position. Mr Kampyongo says he was elected by fellow members of the National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP) at an orientation workshop that Mr Tembo attended. He says the party's Secretary General later told the Assembly something different. He has urged the Assembly to uphold constitutional and democratic principles and has told Mr Tembo not to ignore the will of the people. Mr Tembo says he knows of no meeting at which Mr Kampyongo was elected, and that the opposition will proceed on the basis of what happened in the National Assembly. The Speaker made her announcement on Tuesday 20 October. "I wish to inform the House that I received communication from the Secretary General," she said. She told the House that the NRPUP Secretary General, Nonde Mubanga, had confirmed Mr Tembo's election as Leader of the Opposition, Milenge MP Geystave Chonde as party whip and Nyimba North MP Paul Lungu as deputy party whip. The dispute began when a group of NRPUP MPs met at a Lusaka lodge on 27 September and elected Mr Kampyongo. The two camps now rely on conflicting minutes and on different readings of Article 74(2) of the Constitution. NRPUP is the party whose presidential candidate in the 13 August election, Brian Mundubile, is in custody at Mukobeko on treason charges. ## Why it matters The Leader of the Opposition leads the opposition side in the House, questions the government on behalf of those who did not vote for it and speaks for the opposition in debates on the budget and national issues. When two MPs from the same party each claim the job, the opposition has no single voice in Parliament while its presidential candidate is in prison, and voters who backed NRPUP candidates are left unsure who speaks for them. ## What happens next The S