Political parties represented in Parliament have expressed hope that the change in sitting plan in the house, ahead of the 2020/21 National Budget deliberations which will be opened of Friday, June 5, will not affect the debate.

The sentiments follow the directive by the national assembly that the members will be deliberating from different chambers in order to avoid congestion as a preventive measure from the spread of coronavirus.

According to a new sitting plan, the main chamber will be hosting only 100 selected members including cabinet ministers.

The remaining members will also be divided into two groups whereby by one group will be using the minister’s lounge while the other will be participating from the member’s lounge where they will be using microphones and Television.

Commenting on the development, leader of opposition side in parliament, Lobin Lowe, said they got assurance from the IT experts that there will be no challenges.

Lowe said: “We were assured by the IT experts that everything will go on smoothly but we are going to observe what they have said when the deliberations starts.”

Government Chief Whip, Symon Vuwa Kaunda, said the new sitting plan will not change the proceedings.

“This will not affect the debate in any way because all the members are going to participate and they will be entitled to speak hence the debate will flow normally.”

The parliamentary general debate will commence on Monday and will ran until Thursday and thereafter, on Friday the finance minister will present the national budget.