Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha says government will not disband the National Constitution Conference (NCC) to please sections of society.
Government says the abolishment of the cut of point system in selecting pupils to grade ten was done in good faith and it was for the interest of everybody.
Lieutenant General Shikapwasha, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said government will not disband the NCC saying it will be just a waste of time and resources.
The government spokesperson said it will be unfair to disband the NCC at this stage to satisfy certain sections of society who are calling for its break up.
He said the Catholic Church which is calling for the disband, in particular, has itself to blame for not participating in the NCC deliberations.
Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said this at a press briefing in Lusaka today when he was responding to the pastoral letter by the Roman Catholic bishops.
The Bishops over the weekend presented a pastoral letter of integrity in which they recommended among other issues that the NCC should be disbanded and instead put in place a small, non partisan group of qualified technocrats to work on the Mungomba draft constitution and after the referendum.
They said afterwards Parliament should then formally enact the new constitution in its entirety.
And Lt.Gen Shikapwasha has welcomed the removal of the cut off point in the education system as it had created a high level of wastage human resources in the past.
He said the new system will help reduce a waste of human resource for pupils who do not meet the cut off point adding that the removal of cut-off points will enable more pupils an opportunity to further their education.
The new education system is aimed at standardizing the national selection system.
Lt. Gen Shikapwasha said government acknowledges that the system will in the short term cause overcrowding and shortage of teachers in schools but that it will work hard to address the problem.
He said the government through the ministry of education is constructing more schools and classrooms at high school levels.
He also said a program to train more teachers and upgrade them to degree levels is underway adding that these teachers will then handle the expanded high schools.
What do you expect from this greedy government.
The constitution the are making,i can asure you,will never stand the test of time,this is partly because other important stake holders have refused to be part of it.Any government that will take over from the corrupt MMD will not take to re-do the constitution.How do you,for God’s sake,decide to go on with making of the constitution without the major church mother bodies,instead you pick on tuntemba pastors who do not represent anybody but their pocket to do the most important document in the land?
However, reducing the process to a “non partisan group of qualified technocrats to work on the Mungomba draft constitution” is not representative of the public either. Seriously civil society, particularly the Church, needs to choose its battles wisely, instead of adopting oppositional, knee-jerk reactions to all government initiatives. It can help shape the constitution-making process by actually participating, instead of constantly decrying the event. Wasn’t it Catholic bishops who recently published some speech or report about how Levy’s presidency brought no benefits to Zambians, while at least Chiluba’s did? Were they under a rock while Chiluba was president or something? smh.
If you are refusing to disband NCC, then at least reduce the amount of money you are spending on it. The allowances are insanely high! That is theft in broad day light!
This Constitution is a share waste of time and money. Another Political WILL, we want a “NATIONAL WILL” you Kaffirs.
The catholic Church has a say in constitutional matters? I have mixed feelings about this one. Maybe I have just been away for too long to understand certain matters in Zambia. As for me let the Catholic Church purely concern itself with heavenly matters. In these tough time we surely need more spiritual strengthening from the church than talking politics.
Let the government manage the NCC !!
Catholic Bishops are PF cadres, let them hang. Why did they refuse to participate in the first instance? They are time wasters. There are certain things that they can criticise the MMD but not the NCC. They think they know it all when some of them can not even preach the truth from the bible.
Greetings Jamaco, I share your feelings on this one, bro. It would be a good thing to ignore those bishops, we all know where they get their orders from.
Well the same Catholics are the ones who refused the suggestion by George Kunda and Late Levy Mwanawasa that there was no need for Constituent Assembly and only a small technical team was wanted. Now the Catholics have made a complete turn arround. They are jokers.
why are my comments being deleted ???? why ??? why???
What L.T does sometimes is, if your posting is too lengthy and contains certain words on their offensive list, your whole comment just goes into oblivion. I have experienced it several times , so do not worry or lose heart. Just continue contributing intelligently as you have always done. Bravo my bro.
I know how frustrating it is to brainstorm a sentence, just to lose it in a second.
Sorry bloggers, I will be a little bit off topic, but what is this nonsense Ba Zambia?. I send money via Western union to help with my orphaned relations kids(Luanshya)to go to school and it is taking 2 days to clear as there are no funds…. on third day my Sister is told to go and try in Ndola as there are no available hard cash Kwacha to dish out???give my sister the Dollar I sent and this would be fast track I believe… where to from here Zambia???this really annoys me!!!!Grrrrrrhh!!
Guys attacking te catholic church, the catholic church represents the voiceless of Zambia and whether catholic members or not, they have a point even in this case if you have been following the NCC you would understand why they are asking for a small group of Tachnocrats. I will give u an example of the expelled MP’s from PF who are on the NCC they have convoinced the group to add a clause which says if an MP has been expelled from a party the MP becomes an independent automaticaly.Accepting that means an Mp does not want any diciplinary measures against them.& this is for there own benefit in 2011 to stand.But is it the wil of the people they are representing and what their part stands…
Yes this is the will of Zambian people like me personally for I do not need to see money meant for developmental projects being wasted in by-elections which are created unnecessarily.
Also, the same rebel PF MPs you are complaining of are the ones who barred the motion of palcing an upper age limit to probably force 71 or 72 year old PF Leader Micheal Sata from participating in the cioming elections. So, why are you choosing to overlook the positives parts of their contributions with regards to the Undereducate PF Leader?
Great stuff to the 17 year old GRZ. On “Lieutenant General Shikapwasha, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said government will not disband the NCC saying it will be just a waste of time and resources. The government spokesperson said it will be unfair to disband the NCC at this stage to satisfy certain sections of society who are calling for its break up.” there is no need to disband the NCC which has so far consumed much money in its operations and also is on the verge of completing its work.
I hope the Catholics together with the Catholic PF Leader Undereducate MC Sata will realise that Zambia is not under the rule of the Vatican in Rome. Zambia is a sovereign State.