The opposition Patriotic Front PF has described the release of the Draft Constitution to the public by the National Constitution Conference NCC as a mockery.

The NCC on Tuesday released to the public the Initial Report of the Conference,the Draft Constitution, and the Summary of the Resolutions of the Conference, giving the public 40 days in which to make their observations and contributions towards the draft constitution.

But PF Spokesperson Given Lubinda observed that the rush to release the draft document to the public has not been done in good faith but merely to justify the huge expenditures National Constitutional Conference has incurred during its deliberations.

Mr. Lubinda told QFM in an interview that the NCC has spent colossal amounts of money deliberating over recommendations of the Mung’omba Constitutional Review Commission.

He also stated that it is clear that the whole process of the NCC has been marred with a lot of inconsistencies that has led to the failure by the delegates to come up with a people driven legal document.

He added that Zambians expected so much from the NCC that the huge resources invested in the process have not yielded anything to meet the expectations of the people after making progressive recommendations to the Mung’omba CRC.

And Forum for Progressive Politics (FPP) have welcomed the newly launched draft constitution. FPP Secretary General Charles Kafumbo said the forum was happy with the 40 days given to the public to make submissions which would be considered in the final document.

He said the period given was long enough for people to read and understand the document but expressed worry that very few were likely to submit because they had no access to the document especially in rural areas.

He said the decision by Government to allow the District Commissioners’ offices to avail the draft constitution to the public would disadvantage the rural community who could not manage to travel to a district to access the document. Mr. Kafumbo noted that Government should have taken the document to all constituency offices, if the rural community was to fully articipate in the exercise adding that the process would not yield desired results failure to avail it to people at the grassroot level.

He observed that the National Constitution Conference (NCC) process has cost the country huge sums of money which he said could only be beneficial if all citizens added their voice to the document. He stated that at the stage the document had reached it was irreversible as huge public resources had already been spent saying Government should be prepared to spend even more to let every Zambian access the document.

He said Government should consider printing more copies and also translating it into local languages to enable more people
to read it. In another development, Mr. Kafumbo said the voter registration was faced with low turn out because of lack of information on the exercise to the community.

He said people in the community did not know where to find the centers adding that Electoral Commission of Zambia should do more publicity in the community. He said the people in the community could not afford to buy a newspaper in order for them to ascertain the centres saying advertising in the papers would only reach selective individuals.

He advised ECZ to use the vehicles they have been given to sensitise people in the community as the only way to improve voter registration turn out. But when contacted for a comment, ECZ Public Relations Manager Cris Akufuna said the commission is doing everything possible to publicise the exercise around the country.

Editor’s Note

Due to many requests, LT has created a link for people to download the full Draft Constitution Document as it is not clear on where to download it from the NCC website

Use the link below to download the 301 page Draft Constititution report

http://www.lusakatimes.com/draftConstitution.pdf

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy, MMD, has demanded for a complaint in writing from any concerned stakeholder calling on the party control or discipline its Lusaka Province Chairman William Banda.

In a telephone interview with QFM, MMD National Chairman Michael Mabenga expresses ignorance about complaints by some stakeholders over the conduct of Mr William Banda, stressing that the party is not aware of any complaints about the MMD Lusaka provincial chairman being a danger to national peace.

He says those complaining about Mr. William Banda should write to the MMD explaining what they want the party to do.

Mr. Mabenga who kept on diverting from the questions accused the QFM reporters of reading out the questions to him instead of explaining what they wanted from him.

Mr. Mabenga failed to give the party’s stance on the matter, accusing the reporters of being indiscipline, almost turning the interview into a misunderstanding.

He also insisted that he be given the names of those complaining about Mr. William Banda conduct.

But when given some names of political parties and Civil Society Organizations that have been calling for the disciplining of Mr. Banda, Mr. Mabenga challenged those complaining to put their complaints in writing.

He says the party will only act when it receives written complaints, and not through the media.

Recently, MISA Zambia appealed to the MMD leadership, including President Rupiah Banda, to check Mr. William Banda’s excesses, describing him as ‘a senior cadre with a reputation of thuggish behaviour dating back to his days as Lusaka District Governor, under the former ruling party, UNIP’.

And several other Civil Society Organizations and most Political Parties have been calling for President Rupiah Banda to control Mr. Banda on grounds that his political style has become a recipe for anarchy in the country.

Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha says Republican President Rupiah Banda deserves to be given credit for taking time to watch the Fifa World Cup games in South Africa.

Lt. Gen. Shikapwasha said the President has been working very hard for the country and deserved some relaxation by taking time to watch the world cup game involving Brazil and Ivory Coast.

He said President Banda has worked so hard to grow the economy, and that condemning his trip to South Africa is unfortunate.

Gen. Shikapwasha told QFM that it is surprising that Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata is condemning Presidents Banda’s visit to South Africa. He added that the President has worked extra hard in keeping the nation’s economy afloat and his trips outside should not be politicized.

He said Zambians should debate real issues and not trivial issues that do not add any value to the growth of the nation.
[ QFM]

Reuters reports that MTN Group will slash international call rates by about 40 percent in Zambia after the southern African country opened up access to and cut the licensing fees for international gateway facilities.

Zamtel, the country’s fixed-line phone operator, used to control the sole gateway and charged private operators high fees for using it, but Zambia last week allowed other operators to set up their own facilities and cut the five-year international gateway licensing fee to $300,000 from $8 million.

“Some destinations including Canada, China and the U.S., which (combined) form our fifth most called destination, have had their charges reduced by more than 80 percent,” Farhad Khan, MTN Zambia’s CEO told Reuters.

He said call charges to countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania had been reduced by 45 percent, and the firm hoped this would help attract more subscribers.

“Although our target for this year is 1.5 million subscribers, we are aiming to exceed this and will definitely achieve the 2 million subscriber mark in the first half of 2011,” Khan said.

MTN competes with India’s Bharti Airtel in Zambia and state-owned Cell Z.

[Reuters]

National Democratic Focus (NDF) leader Benjamin Mwila has said Zambians will live to regret if they vote for Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata in the 2011 general elections because he is allegedly undemocratic and inconsistent on national issues.

And Global Commodity Market Institute country director Mwango Chisha has said Mr Sata’s assertions that he will expel Zambia-based Chinese workers and low class investment is a dream because he will never be president of Zambia.

Commenting on assertions that the PF leader would expel Chinese workers and low investment, Mr Mwila said Mr Sata’s comments on the Chinese investment were a sign of an ignorant man on the global economy.

Mr Mwila said Zambians should blame themselves if they make a mistake of voting Mr Sata into power because he allegedly did not believe in democracy and kept changing position on important national policy matters.

Mr Mwila said Mr Sata did not understand democracy because he was not there when the MMD, which was based on democracy, was formed.

He said Mr Sata was an opportunist and populist leader,who joined the MMD one week before the convention which was why he did not understand and appreciate democracy.

Mr Mwila said he did not understand why the PF leader continued to attack the Chinese instead of explaining to the citizenry how he would contribute to the development of Zambia if elected into power.

Mr Mwila said countries were embracing each other for development but it was surprising that Mr Sata did not like Chinese investment when it was accepted globally.

He said, for instance South Africa, had developed because of embracing other nationals and wondered what was wrong with Zambia doing the same as it needed more development than the rainbow state.

Mr Chisha said Mr Sata was dreaming that he would change things because he would never be president of the country.

“The rate at which politics is moving, Mr Sata will never be president of Zambia because of a simple reason that he was not born a leader, and nothing can make him become a leader,” Mr Chisha said.

He questioned why the PF leader had so much hatred for the Chinese investors when they were globally accepted.

Mr Chisha said the Chinese may have some problem of human relationships due to factors like culture and language barriers but this should not be a weapon to demonise them.

He said there was need to look at the bigger picture of the investment than at individual Chinese who could have differed with a Zambian because of some misunderstanding.
[ Times of Zambia ]

Vice-President George Kunda has vowed that the MMD would crush the PF-UPND Pact in next year’s general elections because it was the only credible party with a national character to advance Zambia’s development agenda.

Addressing Serenje residents in Mailo and Chibale areas, Mr Kunda said the MMD has scored on various development issues to warrant it to remain in power next year.

“We shall defeat the PF-UPND pact in next year’s elections because our works are there to show; we are a party with national character and anchored at fostering national development. The opposition is just pre-occupied with insults which is of little benefit to the Zambian people,” Mr Kunda also Muchinga member of Parliament (MP) said.

The vice-president said that the pact was just fanning confusion in Zambia and that was why it had failed to announce its presidential candidate.
[pullquote]“We shall defeat the PF-UPND pact in next year’s elections because our works are there to show; we are a party with national character and anchored at fostering national development. The opposition is just pre-occupied with insults which is of little benefit to the Zambian people,” Mr Kunda also Muchinga member of Parliament (MP) said.[/pullquote]
“We are more organised, it is a well known fact that President Rupiah Banda is our candidate and we are ready for the so called pact to meet them head on in next year’s general elections. In fact the mass defections of their members to our party is testimony to the confusion in the pact,” Mr Kunda said.

He said while the opposition was pre-occupied with insulting President Banda and his leadership, the MMD was busy undertaking development projects countrywide for the well being of the Zambian people.

[ Times of Zambia ]

The United Party for National Development (UPND) says the failure to tackle corruption by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government will cost the country, citing the suspension of funding to the Ministry of Health by the Global Fund.

Siavonga Member of Parliament, Douglas Siakalima says the freeze in funding to the health sector by the Global Fund is dangerous for the people of Zambia for which the MMD government will have to take the blame.
He said though the Global Fund has indicated its intentions to resume funding to the Ministry of Health in the next two months, the effects of the freeze on the health sector are devastating.

Mr Siakalima added that this acts as a reminder to the people of Zambia to vote out the MMD government in which corruption is endemic.

And Katombora Member of Parliament, Regina Musokotwane has observed that as long as government does not put its foot down and stamp out corruption in the country, the people’s suffering will never come to an end.
[UPND]