Parliament has released a statement following the incident this morning at Parliament Building where Chiwaya shot himself in the head and died on the spot.
Chiwaya served as Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and was entitled to benefits including a provision that he would purchase his official vehicle.
According to the statement from the Speaker, Parliament released the vehicle to Chiwaya pending change of ownership and at the time the vehicle was insured.
Chiwaya was later involved in an accident after he had purchased the vehicle but the insurance had expired while the change of ownership was yet to be completed.
Chiwaya then approached Parliament for a solution over the situation. However, Parliament was advised by Government that Chiwaya’s requests were not feasible.
This forced Chiwaya to take the issue to the Ombudsman and the Commercial Court. The Ombudsman ordered Parliament to buy a new vehicle for Chiwaya and modify it according to his needs. But the commercial court set aside the Ombudsman’s order, according to Parliament.
“Parliament could not implement the Ombudsman’s ruling as the matter at the commercial court has not yet been concluded to date. It is unfortunate that this sad development has happened before the conclusion of the matter,” reads part of the statement.
On concerns over security at Parliament, the Speaker said Parliament has prerequisite equipment and security protocol for visitors but since Chiwaya was a person with disability, scanner alerts from his gun were deemed to be from the wheelchair.
Zachamba basi fudya wamkulu ndiwoyipani eti kuzipha chifukwa khawa zachuluka, ndunazi zimapita ku parliament zitaledzela mwawonatu, komano( where did he get the gun and who was the owner) wawa a kumuzi asatinamizenso poti zotelezi mukafuse zimu WA gadama.