State won’t backpedal on Constitution promise – Shamenda
Fackson Shamenda
Government says it will not go back on its promise to come up with a people-driven Constitution which will stand the test of time.
Information, Broadcasting and Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda said in Lusaka yesterday that the ongoing Constitution-making process was not a preserve of a privileged few in society but a process that would embrace all stakeholders before the document is finally adopted.
Mr Shamenda said the Constitution-making process was all-inclusive of sectors in the Zambia.
He said this yesterday during a media breakfast dubbed; ‘Youth Campaign on Constitution- making,’ organised by Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) at Golden Bridge Hotel in Lusaka.
Mr Shamenda said the media should play a key role to inform and educate the public on comments of the draft constitution for them to participate effectively.
“Using their reporting and editorial skills, the media have a responsibility to analyse and help breakdown constitutional and other forms of jargon in the draft constitution in order to enhance public understanding and participation,” he said.
In a speech read for him by his Deputy Minister, Rayford Mbulu, Mr Shamenda said the Government was committed to having a broad-based constitution.
He said the Government was thankful for the support that Zambia had continued to receive from various cooperating partners in the Constitution-making process.
The US Embassy in Zambia recently sponsored three youth leaders from YALI to attend the President’s Forum for young leaders in Washington DC.
Mr Shamenda hailed YALI’s missions of empowering young people to create change through promotion of education, good governance and development of entrepreneurship skills.
“This is a commendable initiative which is in line with Government’s agenda to empower youths so that they contribute meaningfully to national development,” he said.
Constitution Technical Committee Spokesperson, Simon Kabanda, assured that the first draft would be released next week to members of the public for scrutiny and comments.
Mr Kabanda said his team would not extend the framework but work as mandated by President Michael Sata.
He said after releasing the document, people should make comments on various provisions to be received through Constitution conventions at three levels of district, provincial and sector conventions.
Mr Kabanda said the launch of the first draft document would also be accompanied by the launch of a website to enable people forward their comments.
He said the third and final document would be subjected to a referendum. The Constitution of Zambia Bill would be used by Parliament to enact a new Constitution.
YALI board chairperson, Andrew Ntewewe, said the Constitution should include major areas such as backing of human rights, accountability and separation of powers.
He said the Constitutional Technical team should consider extending the days for the public to make comments on the first draft document as young people needed to understand issues more broadly.
US Embassy deputy public affairs officer, Adam Jagelski, said his government would continue to support various initiatives and skills development programmes such as the Constitution-making process and empowering youth.
[Times of Zambia]
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What does this minister mean when they have shifted the goal post once, from the within 90 days to something open now. What explains the shoting down of allowances paid to the then Assembly to the now family Assembly of experts and undisclosed amount of allowances being paid to experts including a cheif from Mpika? One thing we have not agreed with you on the composition of the experts as what defined them was being family members and cragy from one church only.
ooh too bad for the prostitutes,now the law is coming to visit you sorry. But first before you start arresting the girls of the night please close all brothels which are in full swing in the compounds.zimbabwean women do their trade in these places without fear or shame, just take a ride around 20hrs between chawama kuku and kuomboka compounds. there 3places one is called bulawayo its a brothel opposite there is a place callled panyoni its rented out to zmbabwean women and a few metres up the road there is DON C car park there is a guest house which is fully booked by zim women as well.so these should be the starting points.And the pimp in this whole operation will be the perpetually broke and corrupt zambia police, the real prostitutes must be laughing at the whole circus.
#2 of places wawulula ma places yabanzako nichani….. the one is Northmead are too expensive…..we need such places at some point….. lol
because they operate their trade in a organised way they too are not legalised’during the day they are busy at work in big firms.At night while you run after motorists, running away from the police or stealing phones from drunkards or spiking drinks in pubs.Real prostitutes understand the market,know where the money isand have much more than just in their bodies are busy minting money.These pamper clients in upmarket apartments bungalows in upper class areas,where ZP do not raid.The real pros who put their bodies where the money is receive phone calls and book clients appointments.They understand that to make money,you have to spend.They run one stop shops and ensure that their clients get their moneys worth so that they can always return.Their trade is also not legalised but they care bo
about repeat clients. BUT for you sorry everything will be taken away by the police its like the minibus driver police relationship
No 2 You seem to be a benefit of these places…..
Sorry yu seem to be a beneficially of these places …. seeing you know them to well :)
I.D.I.O.T.S!!! There is no constitution that stands the test of time. Even the American Constitution has been amended many times. The British do not even have a written constitution. They just have a bunch of statutes, by-laws, royal orders and lots of customs and traditions. We have a twisted mindset of trying to do the impossible and wasting lots of money while at it. I can’t imagine that my kids who are into cloud computing and social networking will have the same ideas of nation/country as me. Our descendants may even reject the whole idea of a Zambian country. Just take a good shot but don’t **** yourself that you are all wise and your ideas will be there forever. That is a recipe for disaster and disappointments!!
Could someone please tell me what is happening with the dual citizenship?
Having a British passport and a Zambian passport is this illegal?
Would i need to be using 2 passports, how does this work?
Thanks
Piss off, you are not serious boy!
we shall wait and see Hon Minister,
i have no comment of this story!!
You cannot trust PF Ministers any longer. The fuel to Malawi was going to be transported by Malawi; SO THE MINISTER SAID; but what happenned? WHO IS TRANSPORTING? DONT TRUST THE DONCHI KUBEBA MINISTERS; THEY ARE CAMELEONS
Please note that the the official launch of the first draft Constitution which will take place on 30th April, 2012 at the New Government Complex Conference Hall at 09:30 hours.
Mr Kabanda, put the constitution on internet so that the diaspora people can read it and comment on it. You will do a good job anyway. This year we don’t want to do like in MMD where we didn’t have the constitution
Good luck baba