Chief Government Spokesperson Mike Mulongoti says government prefers to enact the new Constitution through a legitimate body like Parliament and not the Constituent assembly which had a lot of impediments.
Mr. Mulongoti, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said it would take
87 weeks for the government to enact the new Constitution through Parliament which
was cheaper and a less time-consuming road map unlike the Constituent Assembly that
some people and stakeholders were advocating for which could even take five years.
He further said government preferred to tackle certain clauses in the constitution
that could be amended through an indaba without incurring the wrath of article 79 to
ensure that the new Constitution was enacted by Parliament and not the Constituent
Assembly.
The government has already set aside K200 Billion for all the process to ensure that the Zambian people enacted the Constitution in a more decent and somber manner.
Mr. Mulongoti said this in Kitwe today during a live radio programme on the government Constitution review process carried by the Catholic owned Radio
Ichengelo.
He said there were a lot of problems in following the enactment of the Constitution
through a Constituent Assembly to the latter as it had a lot of impediments which
most of the Zambia people did not understand.
The minister noted that the majority of the Zambian people did not know the implications of adopting the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly and that
the advocates of this process were not helping Zambians as they were not telling the
truth.
He further said if the referendum failed to identify eligible voters by 50 per cent,
then the entire process would be thrown in disarray and chaos which would be a waste
of national resources and time.
The minister also wondered what would happen to the entire process if parliament
refused to accept the document and recommendations by the Constituent Assembly.
Mr. Mulongoti added that there was need for government to give direction to the
nation by allowing parliament to operate normally and enact the Constitution as
required by law to avoid the nation being thrown into chaos.
He said government was more than ready with various stakeholders and to amend
certain articles in the Constitution to ensure that the nation moved forward and
adopted a new constitution within the desirable time frame.
And speaking later in an interview with some members of press Chembe Member of
Parliament, Mwansa Mbulakulima, said the enactment of the Constitution through a
Constituent Assembly meant that Zambian’s had passed a vote of no confidence in
their members of parliament.
Mr. Mbulakulima wondered how the same people who had voted for them as their sole
representatives could today turn around and render them irrelevant.
He said the people who would sit on the Constituent Assembly would not have the
authority and legality that was given to the members of parliament.
He appealed to Zambians to trend carefully and ensure that the constitution was
enacted by Parliament.