The Black Friday consortium of civil society organizations has challenged the Patriotic Front (PF) government to demonstrate political will towards the constitution making process by allocating funds towards the holding of a referendum in the 2014 national budget.
The consortium is of the view that if the 2014 national budget to be presented to Parliament this Friday does not include the allocation of funds towards the referendum, it will imply the PF government is not interested in the current constitutional making process.
Consortium spokesperson, MacDonald Chipenzi has told Qfm in an interview that in an event that there is no allocation of funds towards the referendum on the draft constitution, the CSO group will convene to strategize the way forward to ensure the country has a people driven constitution.
Mr. Chipenzi notes that the Black Friday consortium wants the PF government to act differently from previous governments that had been ignoring the voices of the Zambian people on many national concerns.
mr. chipenzi,
please stop grobbing in the dark.
that thing wont come anywhere soon.
mr. chipenzi,
please stop globing in the dark.
that thing wont come anywhere soon.
power is sweet though it corrupts.
@mature
I am sure the word you are looking for is ‘groping in the dark’, not grobbing or globing. Any way you made me laugh.
thanks wantanshi,
did not do a proper spell check.
A people driven constitution is what i would want Zambians to get.Time is not of the essence,if we rush this process,we might end up having to change the constitution every time we change the government.
How long do you want this process to take? Why are you afraid of introducing progressive laws? We need them whether you want it or not. This process started a long time ago.
You are taking Zambians for a ride. Let us have the new constitution now. Everyone will benefit from that including the party in power. This constitution is for the good of Zambians and not party cadres alone.
Trusting PF with the constitutional making process is like leaving a newly born baby with a crocodile or a python and expect to find it well fed.
The only clauses you should expect in the constitution will be:
> Appointment of relatives outside parliament
> Constitutional court to be manned by relatives of appointing authority to weaken parliament and the judiciary
> A meaningless de-centralisation which will divorce Central Govt from service delivery but retain control over revenue collection
> “Minority” rights