LUSAKA
By Francis Maingaila – Anadolu Agency
Many Zambians hope that the Patriotic Front (PF)-led government will hold a public referendum on the constitutional amendments currently being drafted to allow for a people-driven national charter, and refuse to leave the final say to parliament.
"In the absence of the legal framework, the wishes of the people cannot be guaranteed in the new constitution," said Pukuta Mwanza, chairman of the Oasis Forum - an alliance of several organizations including the Zambia Episcope Conference, Council of Churches in Zambia, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, the Law Association of Zambia, the Labor Movement and other NGOs.
"For this reason, we want the whole document to be put to a referendum so that the people can inspect the document to see if their submissions are included or excluded from the final document that we seek to make into Zambia's supreme law," Mwanza told Anadolu Agency.
Macdonald Chipenzi, executive director of the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), believes it will be suicidal to entrust the parliament with the task of enacting the new constitution.
"In the past, parliament has let the people down on similar assignments when it put money first at the expense of representing the interests of the people who elected them on matters of particular importance," Chipenzi told AA.
"I believe parliament will do the same this time around," he added.
"Based on the reputation parliament has shown in the past, I would advise that the document be subjected to a referendum for scrutiny."
According to Chipenzi, a popular referendum is the right way to authenticate the new charter, because, through it, the people will be able to decide whether the document's contents are in line with the proposals they submitted during the initial sittings.
"Once the referendum is allowed, we shall tell our people what to expect in the final draft constitution they seek to be enacted into law," Chipenzi said.
Many Zambians say the constitution-drafting process will be of no value if the proposed charter is not put before a referendum.
"One of the reasons we need a referendum and not parliament is that the referendum has a much broader representation than parliament," Derrick Sinjela, a civil engineer, told AA.
He said Zambians were required to speak for themselves through a referendum as to whether they wanted the current constitution or not.
He believes a referendum would give the people a chance to participate in the constitution-making process.
"If the people eligible to vote find the document wanting, it will be thrown out. And the opposite is correct," he said.
Clement Zulu, another Lusaka resident, appealed to the Zambian government to accept the people's demands.
"The referendum is a must," he told AA.
"Experience is the best teacher. We have had so many constitution-making processes, but they have not yielded anything. This current process is the only hope for the Zambian people," Zulu added.
- Self-interest
The call to put the constitutional amendments to a public vote came after the PF resisted the inclusion of some clauses that people had proposed to the technical committee tasked with drafting the new charter.
The Southern Africa Center for Constructive Resolution of Dispute (SACCORD), Operation Young Vote (OYV) and the Anti-Voter Apathy Project (AVAP) – all affiliates of the Oasis Forum – accused PF Secretary-General Winter Kabimba, who also serves as justice minister, of opposing the clauses that he believes will work against his party and the government it sponsored.
Oby Chibuluma, SACCORD's information officer, said they "have observed with regret that Kabimba has opposed the inclusion of the clause that will bar a presidential candidate above the age of 75 and that he is also against the 50 percent + 1 threshold for a wining presidential candidate."
OYV's Guess Nyirenda, for his part, alleged that Kabimba had on several occasions vowed that his party would not allow the "running mate" and the "appointment of cabinet ministers outside parliament" clauses to be included in the new constitution.
He said the people of Zambia had recommended the inclusion of a clause that would give them the right to recall non-performing lawmakers, but that the ruling party had opposed the idea.
"Kabimba is not an ordinary member of the ruling party," Nyirenda told AA. "He is both the chief executive of the party and the custodian of the justice system in the country. What he says represents the views not only of the government but of the ruling party as well."
AVAP CEO Richwell Muluani insisted that other members of the executive were against the revision of the constitution's current Bill of Rights to include civil, cultural and political rights.
AVAP wants to include a provision in the new charter on the funding of political parties and the free expression of political views, which the government opposes.
But Fuckson Shamemnda, the acting chief government spokesperson, denied accusations that the government was angling to manipulate the constitution to suit its own interests.
In a telephone interview with AA, he insisted that none of the allegations were true.
Shamemnda argued that the views expressed by Kabimba did not represent the government.
"As you are aware, our laws separate the party from the government," he said. "In this regard, the views expressed by Mr. Kabimba on the constitution do not represent the views of the government."
He reiterated the government's commitment to giving Zambians a people-driven constitution, which, he said, would stand the test of time.
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