Vice-President George Kunda yesterday presented to Parliament the Republican Constitution Bill number 60 of 2010 that will provide for the printing and publication of the amended Constitution.
Mr Kunda said the Bill, which was presented to the House for the first reading, would provide for savings and transactional provisions of the existing State organs, institutions, administrations, offices, institutions and laws.
He said the Bill would also provide for the savings of succession to assets, rights, liabilities, obligations and legal proceedings, and also to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa has formed a special committee comprising 13 members of Parliament who would look into the Republican Constitution Bill.
Mr Mwanamwambwa urged the committee to conclude and report back to Parliament by March 20, this year.
And Education Minister Dora Siliya presented the Zambia Qualifications Authority Bill number 62 of 2010 that provides for the development and implementation of a national qualifications framework.
Ms Siliya, however, withdrew the Bill for further consultation with various stakeholders.
Local Government and Housing Deputy Minister Moses Muteteka told the House that his ministry, through the National Housing Authority, between 2000 to 2010 spent K544 billion on constructing 2, 676 housing units in Lusaka and Ndola.
Mr Muteteka said in Lusaka, 2,438 houses were at a cost of K538 billion while in Ndola, 138 houses were built at a cost of K6.1 billion.
Communications and Transport Minister Geoffrey Lungwangwa said K509.4 billion was spent on paying retrenchment packages to 2,330 former Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) employees.
Professor Lungwangwa told Parliament yesterday that all the former Zamtel workers had been paid their benefits.
He was responding to a follow-up question by Chipili Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament Davis Mwila, who wanted to know how many workers had been re-engaged as at September 2010, after the partial privatisation of the telecommunications company.
Communications and Transport Deputy Minister Mubika Mubika said 696 employees had been retained out of an establishment of 751 employees.
[Times of Zambia]
Foolish GK, Foolish GK
Times of Zambia uses a quote from Mr.Kunda to explain that the new constitution: “would provide for savings and transactional provisions of the existing State organs, institutions, administrations, offices, institutions and laws [and] provide for the savings of succession to assets, rights, liabilities, obligations and legal proceedings, and also to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing”
OK…. but what on earth does this mean?!?
These words sure sound like English, but give no clue to what any of the key provisions in the draft constitution really are (….and my guess is the Times of Zambia reporter doesn’t know either!).
Can someone please enlighten us?
50+1 full stop.
Thugs at work. Kunda is a flip-flopper. If LPM woke up now, Kunda would jump back to his old mode.
all you above, you lack seriousness. champ, you seem to take on an innocent reporter whose job was to cover parliament and inform the public what was said, mind you, without questions. the story is still developing and everyone will be able to see how government institutions will cut costs.
next, the others seem to think that what those who stayed away from ncc had better reasons. no way, they were hallucinating to put their group identities as catholic, sata, kabanda chulu, bishop mpundu and so on on a national constitution. i do not think levy meant anything evil to handout to zambia the process. check these institutions that claim to be democratic and advancing democratic values over the constitution; they all lack credibility when it comes to the simplest view of tolerance
There is need for more clarity on the part of the veep and speaker so that pipo can follow the recommendations of the committee if any?
#5, thanks, I guess I do take on (or certainly challenge) the “innocent reporter”. Surely the job of this reporter (our nations media) is to do more than to recount what words are spoken but to offer some context and and enlighten the nation on key issues at stake. We shouldn’t have to sit back and wait for the good things to happen (…such as govt cost cutting?) but have a right, even a responsibility, to know what is going on when something so important as the nation’s constitution is being discussed. As it is, the quotes used by the reporter are little more than gobbledygook! Maybe the Times of Zambia (or better LT?) would do well to run a feature that explains something of the constitutional provisions?