Speaker Ndugai now blacklists 15 Chadema MPs

Dodoma. Speaker of the National Assembly Job Ndugai yesterday ordered the parliament’s security organs not to allow in Bunge premises the Chadema MPs who chose not to join parliamentary sessions for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus.
Mr Ndugai said the MPs would only be allowed to join the ongo-ing sessions in Dodoma on condition that they refund the upkeep allowances paid to them when they were absent from the House.
He also says the MPs will also have to prove that they have tested nega-tive for Covid-19.
On May 1, the main opposition party Chadema directed its MPs to immediately stay away from the parliament and not to attend par-liamentary committee meetings after three of their colleagues died in a span of 11 days.
 It was not confirmed what they died of but Chadema MPs remained vigilant about the developments, saying their decision would help in preventing a possible spread of the coronavirus.
The party directed that the MPs should go on self-quarantine for 14 days and urged all the MPs in Dodoma not to visit their constituencies or other regions during the time they would be in quarantine.
A section of the MPs from Chadema contravened the party’s order and returned to parliament.
 They were later sacked by the party for defying the directive to boycott parliamentary sessions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the speaker Mr Ndugai vowed to defend the expelled MPs and asked them to remain calm.
“There is no one, except me who has the authority to expel any MPs who have been sworn in before me,” said the speaker in the house in Dodoma, as he decided on the rebel MPs, which was contrary to how he previously handled such scenarios.
The speaker’s remarks also sparked a debate that he may have breached the national constitution Article 71 (1) (e) which states ... if a member of parliament