Leading expert in the constitution making process has said Zambia’s Constitution is incomplete. Mr.Kabanda, who is author of the book “Know Your Constitution” published in 2008 and who was a member of the Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution from 2011-2013 said there are certain facts surrounding the issue of constitution that Zambians need to be cognisant of namely:
1) The constitution making process, which was started 23 years ago in 1993, has up to now not been concluded;
2) The amended constitution, which was assented to on 5 January 2016 is not a complete document;
3) The Constitution and its making process are not a partisan issue.
Mr.Kabanda said these three facts ought to be our guiding principles if we want to have a successful and acceptable conclusion of the constitution-making process. In offering direction on what steps Zambia should take towards attaining a COMPLETE document called Our Republican Constitution, Mr. Kabanda reiterated that constitution making is not a partisan issue and various stakeholders should take up different tasks which should help the nation to move together towards concluding the constitution making process.
[pullquote]Members of Parliament should not to start making amendments to a document that is not yet complete. [/pullquote]
Question
Why is the document we have as our Republican Constitution is incomplete?
Answer
It is because the Bill of Rights and the constitution amendment provisions have not been finalised. These can only be finalised through a successful National Referendum. This therefore means that the immediate task that we have as a nation is to hold a National Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights and the Amendment Provisions. This task is a MUST. It is NON-NEGOTIABLE. In this regard, Mr Kabanda made the earnest appeal to our Members of Parliament not to start making amendments to a document that is not yet complete.
Question
What needs to be done in order for us to have a successful National Referendum?
Answer
All stakeholders need to come together as one. These stakeholders include the Government, political parties, non-governmental organisations, faith based organisations and the Church as a whole.
1) In order to adequately prepare for the referendum and prepare the people, we should hold the Referendum on the second Thursday of August 2018. In this regard the preparations ought to begin in January 2017;
2) Government should constitute a team of not more than three people, which should come up with, and execute, a programme of preparing the people for the National Referendum. This team should work under the office of the Secretary to Cabinet, and it should be in place by January 2017;
3) Political parties should begin to prepare their members for the National Referendum. In this regard the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) should coordinate a process of political parties coming up with sensitization programmes for their members, and that such programmes should be ready for execution by March 2017;
4) All non-governmental organizations should mainstream the issue of the National Referendum in their plans and activities. As they prepare their budgets for the 2017, they should include a percentage that should go towards preparing people for the Referendum;
5) The churches, deaneries, parishes and lay groups that organized programmes to prepare people for the Referendum, when it was announced that there would be a National Referendum alongside the 2016 elections should upscale what they did prior to the 2016 Referendum, and such programmes should be ready for execution by March 2017;
6) The media should:
- Ensure that debates on the Referendum do not die, until the time it will be held, possibly in August 2018;
- Those media houses that have weekly topical discussions, ensure that one out of four weeks every month is used for debates on the Referendum;
- Radio stations,can make use of the information in the music album Know Your Constitution Volume 1 to sensitise the people on the Referendum. Out of the 12 songs in the album, 9 of them are about issues in the Bill of Rights, and the titles of the 9 songs include: Know Your Constitution, Umulekelesha, Bill of Rights, Ninani Wasunga Ulupiya, Ubuyantanshi no Lupapulo, Press Freedom, Insambu Sha Babomfi, and indicators of Poverty. Mr.Kababnda said he was going to donate this music album to every radio station, and I implore you that every day you play at least one song until the time we shall hold the National Referendum;
- The print media,can make use of the book, Know Your Constitution to write features and generate debate on the Referendum. The book comprises 6 Parts, out of which Parts 2 and 3 discuss contents of the Bill of Rights.
good move Zambian let us thinks big thanks mr kabanda
Kabamba and most Zambians’ thinking is far from completion. Its incomplete.
I agree with the author, our Constitution is incomplete.
It is incomplete because the UPND blocked the Bill of Rights from passing.
If the UPND had acted maturely we would have acquired our complete constitution.
I am aware that UPND exercised their right. And of course it is the exercising of that right which denied Zambia of the needed Bill of Rights.
Not every exercise of Rights amounts to maturity. You can have a K100 thousand and chose to drive from place to place buying people beer in all the bars and blow it in one day. It is your money, it is your right – but without maturity.
Leading expert ?
What a lot of drivel
Thanks
bb2014
The question is what did Edgar lungu sign at heroes stadium spending all that money??? So he signed an incomplete document,,,, sick!!!!!
Isn’t this a scratched record?
Under the current constitution there is no way a Referendum can pass. Even if all people that voted in the last election had voted yes, the referendum would have still failed because we were less than 50% of the elegible voters in Zambia.
Can we review this part of the constitution or stop wasting money on a referendum that can never get through.
The referendum was held during the last election and certain political parties decampaigned against it massively. What will change this time around when the same characters are around and jumping from one court to another like headless chickens. Tough questions have to to be asked moving forward.
Only headless chickens go to heroes stadium to dance dununa, before reading the Constitution.
Just make sure crooked Lungu does not include President-for-Life provisions in the Constitution. Otherwise we will campaign for people to reject the new Constitution again. That sick worm is sickening.
“started 23 years ago in 1993, has up to now not been concluded” WOWZA
Are we that lazy as a people. I know they are a lot smart people in Zambia so it has to do with work ethics and greed where people might fight parts of the constitution that strips them of power and access to plunder.
Can someone in the legislature move the motion to include the term of office of only two terms for the president of political parties that operate under the Zambian constitution. It makes a mockery of the constitution to expect the perpetual presidents of these political parties to suddenly change when the become republican presidents if they have learnt to lead their political parties for ever. I thought ladies/women would be more democratic but I was wrong. Look at some political parties led by women in Zambia, they have joined the fray of third term euphoria. Can we nip this vice in the bud by including the two term clause for all political parties registered under the Zambian constitution? or Better still ask each political party to present at least three candidates for political…
Awe – don’t legislate political parties. Let them make fo.ols of themselves. You must concentrate on educating the electorate on how to separate !diots from useful leadership.
I agree with the author, our Constitution is incomplete.
It is incomplete because the UPND blocked the Bill of Rights from passing.
If the UPND had acted maturely we would have acquired our complete constitution.
I am aware that UPND exercised their right. And of course it is the exercising of that right which denied Zambia of the needed Bill of Rights.
Not every exercise of Rights amounts to maturity. You can have a K100 thousand and chose to drive from place to place buying people beer in all the bars and blow it in one day. It is your money, it is your right – but of course there isn’t any maturity in such conduct.
Lusaka Times be serious, you call Kabanda a leading expert in the constitution making process what a joke. No wander the process will never be complete because you pay more attention to such nonentities ignoring giants like Prof. Muna Ndulo etc.
Who is Prof. Muna Ndulo and what does he have to do with the article?
1) The constitution making process, which was started in 1993, has up to now not been concluded;
2) The amended constitution, which was assented to on 5 January 2016 is not a complete document;
3) The Constitution and its making process are not a partisan issue.
And the immediate NON-NEGOTIABLE task that we have as a nation is to hold the National Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights and the Amendment Provisions, and NOT starting to make amendments to a document that is not yet complete.
Issued by:
Simon Kabanda
Expert on Constitution Making
0968-664272
So if you are a leading expert in constitutional process ot issues, then where do you put professor Patrick Mvunga, Sakwiba Sikota and others? Just asking.
They a PF and boneless. Too old to think.
And the immediate NON-NEGOTIABLE task that we have as a nation is to hold the National Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights and the Amendment Provisions, and NOT starting to make amendments to a document that is not yet complete.
Issued by:
Simon Kabanda
Expert on Constitution Making
And where was this same expert when the ecl was signing the incomplete document at the expense of tax payers money? Vanity of vanities
It is a hopeless exercise. The country was traversed for those 23 years and the same people were asked the same questions and gave the same answers. Eventually Justice Silungwe’s team came up with what the people wanted. However, your politicians pretending to be “government” selfishly picked and chose what they thought was convenient and this led to more so-called lacunas. Is that so difficult to understand? Implement the document in its entirety before we start wasting more money mwe bantu!
PF claims to have millions of supporters. Honestly if all of them voted yes why did the constitution fail? And some people ar busy blaming certain political parties…why couldn’t Pf tell it’s followers to vote yes and they wld hv won… They short down the constitution wen they were in opposition why ar they blaming others now? Hypocrytes!
PF rigged the elections. Judge Musona summarised very well what PF and their crooked minions at ECZ did in Munali.
It’s not a political document!
Just watch what crooked Lungu puts in the provisions for the Presidency and Ministers. The bill of rights is a lot of pig manure when PF ignores that and kill you like they did to Mapenzi.
THIS PIECE IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
TO PROVE MY POINT LET ALL FUTURE PARTICIPANTS TO THIS CONSTITUTION MAKING PROCESS DO IT WITHOUT PAY/ALLOWANCES TO PROVE THEIR COMMITMENT.
Well spoken Mr Kabanda. Some critics must learn something from his presentation. Mr Kabanda spoke because he had something to say and not that he spoke because he wanted to say something. Am happy to learn you have materials that expand on this constitutional matter and I will look for your book. Those that know where it can be found please publicize.
Leading expert Mr. Simon Kabanda? Precisely why Zambia’s constitution is a joke if this guy is the leading expert. Or, indeed LT is part of the post-truth media.
As a rule of thumb, each ruling party should have a maximum of one chance to amend the constitution. The PF government has had its opportunity, this is the best they can do. Similarly, a referendum question can either be assented to or rejected. This time it was rejected. LET’S MOVE ON! Mr Kabanda find something else to keep yourself busy with.
The author has written rubbish. He says constitution is non partisan but in point no3 he wants political parties to prepare. When accenting to this rubbish complete constitution PF and Lungu himself boasted that he has given us a constitution which others had failed to do.
Mr Kabanda (so called expert) cannot surely tell me that there is no bill of rights in our current constitution.
It is like building a house which you live in and have no money to buy new aircons and claim the house is incomplete.
Had referendum passed and article 79 repealed, with the PF numbers in parley today, they would just passed a pronouncement that Lungu shall rule until he is just tired. MPs would just say Yaya yaya! and it is done without a referendum.
Members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, why am I saying that the document we have as our Republican Constitution is incomplete?
It is because the Bill of Rights and the constitution amendment provisions have not been finalised. These can only be finalised through a successful National Referendum. This therefore means that the immediate task that we have as a nation is to hold a National Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights and the Amendment Provisions. This task is a MUST. It is NON-NEGOTIABLE. In this regard I am making an earnest appeal to our Members of Parliament not to start making amendments to a document that is not yet complete.
And in order for us to have a successful National Referendum, there is need for adequate preparation of the Referendum itself, and adequate…
Zambia as a country is lacking legal minds as a result the constitution issue will never end……Probably we do not one!!!
According to the constitution, in order to change the Bill of Rights, 2/3 X Number of eligible voters (not just registered) must vote YES. This is where the problem starts from. Did you know that most people in the last referendum voted YES but the number was low. Did you know that even if everybody who had participated in the election voted YES it was still going to fail because we needed 66.6% of all eligible voters. the turn out rate was less than 60%. Do you know that even in America it could have faile because the vote turn out was not any better. It was a meager 57%. It is simply a bad law. First remove the archaic procedure and then start to talk about referendum. It should simply be first past the post majoritarian vote. I end.
As if we didn’t know
At the moment let the constitution be like that.
We want to Lungu to court for not standing down during Injunction of presidential results.
Kabamba I know you are the beneficiary of constitutional process, there’s no money for that. Time for AUSTERITY measures. The country has to divert that merge resources to fix load shedding.
Why hasn’t Kabanda talked about his role in delaying the process when he stole money for the constitution making process?Let’s not forget why he was fired from the Constitution making committee.
Well spoken.
This is a laughable matter what Mr. Kabanda now? Talking about the same things all the time. Do you need more money to prepare another incomplete constitution or what? please give us a break. What? are you saying the president signed an incomplete document? He should have waited for the bill of rights to go through the referendum after which signing should have taken place. Now you want to hold another referendum oh poor me. When a yes or no answer is given you go with the majority decision and work within that framework. The problem we have is that the few of you think you are champions on certain matters and you want what you feel should be the only thing which should be considered no no no. We have lived for 52 years without the bill of rights and we are still here so let us hold…