Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka has revealed that the stand-off between Parliament and the Senate was one of the most difficult moments for him in 2019.
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, Lusaka said that he was caught between protecting the interests of the Senate and that of the Executive over the Allocation of Revenue Bill.
"It put me in a very awkward position because - remember that the Executive had also given a position and that is the Treasury that they were only going to give the amount of money and the Senate had of course given their own position, the National Assembly had given their own position," he recalled.
He pointed out that the senators expected him to side with them despite the fact that the Executive and the National Assembly had given their own stands on the matter.
"Obviously, as the head of the Senate, the senators expect, and I am a servant of the House, therefore, I must serve the interest of the House," Lusaka stated.
Lusaka was forced to send in a radical team to oversee the mediation of the matter so as to reach common ground.
The stalemate almost crippled operations in the counties.