Constitution of Zambia Bill 2014 Coming up with the Zambian Constitution will never be an easy road. I have been privileged to have been engaged in the reform process from the early days of my youth. This is am old story that has maintained same old players who resist new ideas. When the Patriotic Front came into office and constituted the Technical Committee to draft the new Constitution of Zambia, I was privileged to have been in attendance at 9 closed meetings with 3 Justice Ministers that served under President Sata, two of whom acted as Presidents of this Republic: Hon Sebastian Zulu, SC, Hon Wynter Kabimba, SC, ODS, Hon Edgar Lungu. Having shared notes with these Ministers, it became apparent Government had come to reality with what some of us had said about the timeframe and the process itself. Apparently, none of the latter 2 Justice Ministers deviated from what had become a party position on WHEN a new Constitution would be enacted. I know the timeframe they have in mind if we are to go by subjecting the entire Constitution to a Referendum but some of us continued to persuade them to think otherwise and help save resources. Today, Government has listened to various calls and suggestions on how to come up with a new Constitution. They have since taken into account ALL voices from among our citizens, groupings and everyone. The drafting of the Constitution of Zambia Bill 2014 is to make part of the product of those consultations. This will help Zambia have a more progressive Constitution as we wait for the Referendum on the Bill of Rights and Article 79 itself and MPs from both the opposition and the ruling party must support this move or else they will take us back to March 2011 through shortsighted decisions. This move by Government needs to be commended as it takes into account various suggestions we have heard from different citizens some of whom I can remember include Alinuswe Mwamulima, Chola Mpasa and Peter Mpande. If we can have a more progressive Constitution which Parliament can enact and we have a Referendum on the Bill of Rights and Article 79 later, I think we woukd have achieved a lot in this move and if this idea came from Hon Lungu, the Minister has my support.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:40:49 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015