GOVERNMENT has said not all recommendations of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) will enable Zambia have a Constitution that the citizens desire.
Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Mike Mulongoti said this at Civil Society Elections Network (CSEN) workshop to conduct a postmortem of the 2006 elections in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Mulongoti’s remarks followed concerns from Zambia Democratic Conference (ZADECO) national chairperson, Langton Sichone, who said Government’s stance on the Constitution was divisive to the nation.
Civil society organisations and political party leaders who included United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema attended the workshop.
Mr Mulongoti said as a result of the realisation that the recommendations of the CRC would not enable Zambia have a Constitution that is desired, the Government had for sometime now been agitating that some parts of the Constitution be amended without necessarily amending other clauses.
He said the Constitution had clauses that could be amended without referring to Articles 79 and 62. For instance, he said, to include the 50 plus one vote clause did not require amending Article 79.
If the stakeholders had agreed to amend such clauses, the Constitution making process could have reached an advanced stage.
Mr Mulongoti who is also Chief Government spokesperson, said the Government like civil society organisations and other political parties was concerned with the constitution making process.
He said the Government had discovered that most opposition leaders were emotional when it came to the issue of adopting the Constitution.
And when opening the workshop, Mr Mulongoti commended the initiative by civil society organisations and political parties saying such gatherings were a move in the right direction.
He said there were several issues facing the nation that required the attention and engagement of all stakeholders.
Civil society had managed to conduct a number of activities on the Zambian electoral process and the need to contribute to the sustainability of the democratic governance.
Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) executive director, Lee Habasonda, said such discussions would help resolve most of the problems that Zambia was facing.
He said it was important for stakeholders to know where they went wrong and what should be done particularly in the electoral process.
He, however, said Zambia’s electoral process had its own merits and demerits, which he said should be resolved.
He advised the media to give equal coverage to all political parties during the run up periods to elections.
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) regional director Kaitira Kandjii said electoral laws in Africa did not recognise the role that the media could play in the electoral process.
“Media should be catered for as an important player in the electoral law. It plays an important role in the electoral process,†Mr Kandjii said.
The Gov’t is not doing itself a favour by been economical with the truth.They should come out and clarify their position on the contentious issues so that we can tell which side they are taking.Leaving them hanging and then enginear from behind the curtain is not goig to help.Does the gov’t support the 50+1% do they agree that the prez has too much power what about the electro code.We must see the gov’t that sides with its pipo.NGOs are just watchdogs and patners of gov’t,they do not have any mandent to govern the pipo but to whistle blow and educate the pipo about their rights.When are we going to see pipo that carry Lucy sichones spirit?Some of these civic groups they can’t live out of there emotions and thats dangerous.
I concur with #1. Gov’t has been shuffling its feet far too much for 7yrs on this matter. Zambians want to be in the clear. Was the CRC avenue a complete waste of time and resources after all? Tactics of twists and turns will not do. Tell the people, in the clearest terms possible, govt stand now!