THE National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has approved an increase in the number of Parliamentary seats from the current 150 to 240.

The NCC has also approved the proposal contained in the Mung’omba Draft Constitution to introduce a new type of elected representative in the National Assembly where 30 members of Parliament (MPs) will be elected under Proportional Representation (PR) through an Act of Parliament.

The Committee also adopted Article 159(1), which, once enacted in the new Constitution, will allow the 200 MPs to be directly elected on the basis of the simple majority under the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) segment of the mixed member representation system provided for by the Constitution and as may be provided by or under an act of Parliament.

Under Article 159, 30 MPs would be adopted on the basis of the PR segment of the mixed member representation from a list of candidates submitted to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) by each political party contesting the elections as provided by the Constitution and by, or under, an Act of Parliament.

When supporting Article 159, some Commissioners said the adoption of the PR in the new Constitution would improve the representative nature of Parliament and increase the number of youths, women and disabled people elected to Parliament.

The Committee approved that the PR be set at 30 seats of the number of constituency-based seats elected through the FPTP system.

The Committee created a Parliament consisting of 251 members, out of whom 200 members are to be elected on FPTP system, 30 members to be elected through the PR while a maximum of 10 members are to be nominated by the Republican President.

The NCC Commissioners, who supported the adoption of all clauses under Article 159, said that the adoption of the Article would ensure a mixed-member Parliament that will make the National Assembly more inclusive by targeting the PR seats at women, youths and persons with disabilities.

Vice-President George Kunda, who supported the clauses, said the adoption of Article 159 will play a pivotal role in Zambia’s democratic system as it will ensure that people in the country have full representation in Parliament.

Chief Mumena, who also supported the adoption of Article 159, called for affirmative action in coming up with a 50-50 representation in Parliament.

And Anti-Voter Apathy executive director Bonny Tembo supported the adoption of Article 159, saying the adoption of all the clauses under Article 159 will embrace all the people in the country.

“Democracy is not static but dynamic and I feel that Article 159 should be adopted to ensure that we come up with an inclusive Parliament, and this will help us to promote development in the country as there will be equal representation,” he said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

THE MMD has warned Kafulafuta Member of Parliament (MP) George Mpombo of stern action if he continues issuing malicious statements against President Rupiah Banda and the party.

MMD national chairperson Michael Mabenga said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday it was unfortunate for a person like Mr Mpombo who was a party member and former Cabinet minister to continue attacking his party and the same Cabinet he once served.

Mr Mpombo was quoted as having said in yesterday’s Post newspaper that if President Banda continued to surround himself with political “nincompoops”, the MMD would suffer heavier defeats in 2011 elections than UNIP suffered in 1991.

But Mr Mabenga said in reaction that Mr Mpombo’s remarks were an insult to the party and its leadership, especially that he also served in the same Cabinet formed by the party.[quote]

“I have since confronted Mr Mpombo over his continued attacks on the party. I had a talk with him today (yesterday) and asked him why he has continued saying these kinds of insults against the party.

“He told me that he would not do it again but I reminded him that the damage has already been made and if continues like that we shall be forced to do what we would not want to do to him,” Mr Mabenga said.

He said President Banda and the entire MMD leadership were morally upright people who deserved respect from every Zambian, including Mr Mpombo.

Mr Mabenga said it was unacceptable for a person who served as a full Cabinet minister to call people he had worked with in Cabinet as nincompoops.

He said Mr Mpombo did not have any right to insult the MMD and the Cabinet because he had resigned from the Government.

“Every person in Zambia, including Cabinet ministers has seen the change the MMD has brought to the country. We see no reason why Mr Mpombo can fail to see and appreciate this change,” he said.

Mr Mabenga said when Mr Mpombo served under the late president Mwanawasa’s Cabinet and partly under Mr Banda’s administration, he never called anyone a nincompoop.

He said if the MMD were nincompoops, why did Mr Mpombo decide to stay quiet when he was in Cabinet but only insulted the party and its leadership when he had resigned.

[Times of Zambia]

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)says the Copperbelt University (CBU) Students should have found a proper channel of airing their grievances than resorting to riotous behavior.

The entire COBUSU leadership has been expelled for allegedly being in breach of students’ rules and regulations that led to disturbances that rocked the institution between April 18 and August 12, 2009.

ZCTU President Leonard Hikaumba said in an interview in Lusaka today that the riotous behaviour by the CBU students led to a lot of property getting damaged.

Mr Hikaumba said if the students had followed the proper channel of airing their grievances than resorting to riotous behaviour, no property would have been damaged and that the entire COBUSU leadership could not have been expelled.

He also pointed out that riotous behaviour also leads to innocent people getting injured in the process.

The ZCTU President said the CBU students should have directed all their grievances to the appropriate authorities so that a solution to their problems was found.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hikaunba has noted that it was very unfortunate that the entire Copperbelt University Students Union (COBUSU) has been expelled.

He however, said expelling the entire COBUSU was not the best solution in trying to address the problems that the students were facing at the institution.

ZANIS

VICE- President George Kunda has said part of the 10-month extension of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC)’s sitting period approved by President Rupiah Banda in April has already been covered.

Mr Kunda said this in reaction to an NCC delegate who wanted to know why NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda had said the extension was for 10 months while the president said it was for four months.

He said President Banda was merely interpreting the statutory instrument that was issued for the extension.

The vice-president said the NCC chairperson had explained that the NCC had already covered part of the period and the president was just interpreting the statutory instrument because there were other issues that came into play.

The NCC chairperson said that when Parliament started sitting from September 17, time for the NCC would not be assumed to be sitting.

He said time only ticked for the NCC when it was sitting adding that the same statutory instrument was only published in August.

When some members asked about the remaining days, Mr Banda said the NCC secretariat would handle the issue and explain to the members what the position was.

And most NCC delegates agreed that the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) should be increased to improve representation because some constituencies were too big.

The Willa Mung’omba draft Constitution under Article 159 proposed the number of elected MPs to be increased to 200 but Health Minister Kapembwa Simbao suggested that it should be increased to 300 so that each constituency could be divided into two.

Chongwe MP Sylvia Masebo said the increase to 200 seats was enough and Bweengwa MP Highvie Hamududu agreed saying some constituencies were too big resulting in MPs failing to cover all the areas.

Rev Fauston Sakala said the increment should not exceed 200.
Earlier the delegates adopted Article 158, which said Parliament should have power to summon and dissolve itself and that it should also have power to impeach the president.

But the vice president asked why the conference pick only the role of impeaching the president as opposed to other functions of Parliament.

He said that the article should be deleted to which Professor Patrick Mvunga agreed but after a heated debate the article was adopted.

And the article that sought Parliament to declare and ratify war was postponed so that it could be discussed together with the report from the executive committee.

[Times of Zambia]