Lusaka - Zambia's former ruling party will expel its members of parliament who accepted ministerial positions in President Michael Sata's government, party leader Nevers Mumba said Friday.
Sata's Patriotic Front (PF) ousted the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) in polls last September.
"Any MMD member of parliament who accepts a ministerial job from the PF government ceases to be a member of the MMD party and a letter of expulsion shall be sent and the national secretary shall inform the Speaker accordingly," Mumba told a news conference in the capital Lusaka.
"Our only tools for survival are discipline and unity. As president, I would rather have 20 disciplined and dedicated members of parliament than 80 who are not sure where they stand," he added.
Nine MMD lawmakers have accepted positions at deputy ministerial level in Sata's government.
The MMD, which governed from 1991 until it was booted to the opposition benches, has 51 lawmakers in the 150-member national assembly. - Sapa-AFP
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