Non Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC) member organisation have demanded for the immediate and simultaneous release of the draft constitution to the general public and the president.
Speaking on the 17th NGOCC annual general assembly on Saturday chairperson Beatrice Grillo said the women movement were concerned on the continued delay by government to facilitate the enactment of a truly people driven constitution.
She said the legitimacy of the constitution derived from the people as the owners of the document and therefore it was unacceptable that the executive hijacked the process at this stage.
“The directive to print ten copies only is defiant both of the terms that of reference required the technical committee to make public disclosure of the constitutional making process and of the popular demand of having the constitution released simultaneously to the executive and the public,” she said.
Ms Grillo said government should allow the technical committee to operate within its mandate in accordance to their terms of reference and without any interference.
She said the people voted for the Patriotic Front (PF) government because they promised to give them a truly people driven constitution.
“We feel that the PF government has betrayed the Zambian people by denying them access to the long awaited constitution, the woman movement will not allow the constitution making in which son much time, money and energy have been sacrificially committed to be manipulated by a majority group and as such we demand the immediate and simultaneous release of the constitution to the public and the president,” she said.
Ns Grillo said the women movement was opposing to the directive of minister of justice that only ten copies o
Faka pressure!
Who is that ‘man’ in the picture?
Thanks
What kind of constitution do we expect under such an atmosphere where the Executive is too economical with the Truth?
In Civilized worlds, Governments have Official Websites where such things are posted for all Citizens to fully participate. Our friends in Botswana for example have a fully developed Government Website where you are able to access the Constitution, check examination results for your child without having to travel, information about every ministry, etc. their literacy levels have surpassed ours and approaching 95%.
The trouble for Zed is that MMD, now turned PF killed the Education system. The more illiterates you have, the easier it is to win elections and therefore something for the ego and the belly!
If Radio Phoenix and QFM cannot be allowed to broadcast…
JO as always no substance.
This is your mother man!
Is she married? Anyone with her number please help??
Patience people…… most of you will be shocked to see the best constitution Zambia has ever produced . Maybe thats why it has taken so long to be published though am not in favour of 10 copies, why not upload it on the net so we can get our own copies 🙂
Am just wondering who the writers are, some of whom are not my favourites as i assume their contribution would be bias and out of personal views.
Twende kwasiya!!!!!
@Ndobo: Mutoyo kuli Beshi Mwanike mwebo, saa ni mukunwa? Where is Saulosi drinking from lelo…
Asryt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This fool Saulosi is everywhere
Sata should come out in the open since winter clearly said its the appointing authority.pf will not give us the constitution any time soon,I doubt also if sata will concede defeat in 2016 or beyond.only God will save us.those who are still doubting just reflect on the buffi so far,those who have relationship ties please concentrate on your education and time will come when you have to stand on your own without links to politicians.i have been their,so this is a timely advice.
I think its Mumembe and kabimba who threatened Sata not to say nothing because they want to manipulate the constitution.
This draft constitution should be for ALL PEOPLE to digest and not just for the few elites that want to hijack the process for selfish intentions.
“Ye shall know a society by how they treat the least amongst them” – thats the true picture of zambia for you.
Irrespective of Sata’s eccentric behavior expected, any mischievous moves against a people’s draft constitution will see this pathetic regime of Michael Sata suffer a humiliating exit. The people of Zambia are the custodian of a national constitution and not these flyer by night clueless politicians We are the masters of our destiny a factor no political vulture can subvert.
PF do underhand works at your own risk people have decided to end with the status call of strongman syndrome replacing it with institutional rule through a people centric constitution. There is a critical mass building up among Zambians and world wide democracy community.
ati democratic nation what ever what ever
The sooner Sata realizes that Wynter is a liability, the better for him and PF!
To redeem our country from anarchy, plunder, divisive more unproductive vision-less political shenanigans, let people determine Zambia’s destiny. Let’s get a progressive constitution now as our friends have done it in Kenya. Such will see the realization of the following:
1). 50+1 electoral winning margin to take the ruling mandate
2). A Bill of Rights in the Constitution
3). Professionals serving in Cabinet nominated outside parliament and ratified by parliament.
4). Constitutionally empowered independent oversight agencies
5). Parliamentary tenure limited to 2 years
6). People get voting right to recall from parliament effective representatives
7). Diplomatic corp a preserve of qualified professionals nominated but ratified by parliament.
8). Debt contraction ratified by…
@ Senior Citizen, you have spoken! Let well meaning Zambians see sense and fight for the constitution that is driven by me, you and us. People will prevail, very soon it will be victory
Not only Kenya, Zimbabwe have also done better with their Constitution than what we are seeing in Zambia now.
Number 6 should read ‘ineffective’…
CORRECTION:
“Ineffective”
6). People get voting right to recall from parliament ineffective representatives
Oops. My bad. You spotted it.
To give more powers for citizen arrest for annoy tort committed against Zambian citizen like burying someone without the concert of relatives by the state.
BUT WHAT ELSE DID YOU PEOPLE EXPECT FROM NON-DEMOCRATS?
Fwebena Zambia do we understand simple English? A draft is not a final document it can be accepted or rejected or better still be amended.Who appointed the Commissioners and to whom are they accountablE ? If you answer these questions then you are wise.Do you understand the terms of reference dull NGOs do not confuse the general public please go back to school mwatusebanya don’t shot at hon Minister he is understands the terms of reference .Its the President who appointed the commissioners and they are accountable to him and if anything he is the one to receive the document and not the general public .We are to resoect the current law.This is not the constitution twapapata but a draft.
Fwebena Zambia do we understand simple English? A draft is not a final document it can be accepted or rejected or better still be amended.Who appointed the Commissioners and to whom are they accountable ? If you answer these questions then you are wise.Do you understand the terms of reference dull NGOs do not confuse the general public please go back to school mwatusebanya don’t shot at Hon.Minister he understands the terms of reference .It was the President who had appointed the commissioners and they are accountable to him and if anything he is the one to receive the document and not the general public .We are to resoect the current law.This is not the constitution twapapata but a draft.
@ Tell us your source
In fact it is the draft that the public should read first before it becomes a constitution. Otherwise what would be the use of having a doctored constitution that you object to? Please don’t try to oppose reason for the sake of your blind loyalty to the Panga Fighters.
5). Parliamentary tenure should be limited to 2*5 years term.
Because the expended funds in these constitution reviews are not for these clueless cadres in power but every tax-payer’s the draft and the whole constitution process belong to the people with final say.
No more “Ignorance, Lies, Hogwash and Humbug” in Zambian future leadership fabric.
@Senior Citizen, agree with you on all but in our present state of democracy I will propose a tenure of 4 years for parliamentarians and Prime Minister. We revert back to British system of government. Presidential Monarchy has not worked for us.
President shall be elected by members of parliament and provincial assembly and shall be a ceremonial position.
Zambia shall be divided into 12 to 16 provinces on administrative convenience basis and not on language or tribal dominance basis.
75% of revenue collected from a province shall belong to the province and federal government shall manage within 25% of the income of each province to cater for the following:
1. Defence and security
2. Civil servants
3. Law and Order
4. External Affairs
5. Salaries and benefits of…
@Senior Citizen, ……
75% of revenue collected from a province shall belong to the province and federal government shall manage within 25% of the income of each province to cater for the following:
1. Defence and security
2. Civil servants
3. Law and Order
4. External Affairs
5. Salaries and benefits of parliamentarians and Ceremonial president (subject to a maximum of 1% of total income from the provinces- Federal government not able to collect any tax directly)
Bongo,
I have no contention with your proposition for a 4 year tenure. If anything, its time the public instituted some KPI to ascertain performance of these sleeping-bugs called politicians in power. A Scorecard for elected office holders please!
On devolution and revenue, i beg a sustained debate on the 75/25 rule in percentage margin of revenue distribution. I say so with apprehension based on the fact that some provinces are yet to take off economically to sufficiently cover their operational budgets while other have have long matured. Certainly all Zambian provinces have a latency of potential to be very successful economically, but this may need time under good leadership guided by the constitution we are advocating for.
IF NOT 10 COPIES THEN HOW MANY
COPIES?
100 COPIES?
1000 COPIES?
100,000,000,000 COPIES?
WHY NOT PRINT THE 10 COPIES AND
SIMULTANEOUSLY MAKE THE REST
AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY?
Not all my relatives in Mgubudu have access to the net.
Your Honor, those ten copies are not meant for the public and SO NOTHING CAN BE LOADED ON THE INTERNET.
It’s regrettable that PF is nothing but a club of clueless shenanigans. If there is any among them we who can read, do a context analysis of texts and comprehend, i wish they see sense In Chinua Achebe’s 1966 novel A Man of the People, “Chief the Honorable M. A. Nanga, M.P.” calls the shots, pulls the strings, does everything for His People that a Big Man is supposed to. All the while helping himself to public money and quashing dissent. This Zambia must overcome with people taking control of their destiny and making critical changes now from the bottom up. As President Obama put it: history is on our side as brave citizens and not with those who forcefully use threats or subvert people’s will to stay in power. Zambia doesn’t need strongmen, instead “she needs strong…
Zambia doesn’t need strongmen, instead “she needs strong institutions” now.
I agree. Our biggest problem is the dependency on foreign institutions coupled with the attitude of expecting everything from the government. We need to build our own Zambian companies that will respond to the aspirations of our people.
IMAGINE HOW MUCH REVENUE AND HOW
MANY JOBS WILL GENERATED IF THE
‘draft’ COPIES ARE DISTRIBUTED VIA
THE POST,
DAILY MAIL,
TIMES OF ZAMBIA ETC AND THE
ELECTRONIC MEDIA!
Please stop screaming.
THAT WILL ONLY HAPPEN AFTER THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ENDORSES THE DRAFT COPIES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF REFERENCE. THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WANT THE PUBLIC TO READ THE CONSTITUTION AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE PRESIDENT IN CONTRAVENTION OF THE TC’S OF THE TECH. COMT.
Instituted bye-elections are more expensive than the bill of printing the draft constitution.
Worse case scenario, as we built UNZA and UTH with money raised from our donated chicken, cows, bags of maize, groundnuts, fish and every valuable we could for the love of our country, Zambians are certainly willing to again sacrifice for a good protected future in a constitution.
Lastly, there are many bilateral and multilateral pro-democracy partners around the world willing to step in and see to it that we have a people’s constitution enacted that centers power in institutions than men. If PF does not know these institutions or how to go about it, say it now, for the common good we could get to work and have this critical support delivered from friends of the Zambia.
Madam Grillo
While you are yapping Sata & Co. are scrutinising the 10 copies of the constitution he orded. You guys should focus your attention on the constitution technical commitee(CTC) and ask them to release a signed electronic copy of the constitution to the general public RIGHT NOW! There is no need for them to seek the approval of the executive since they already have agreed terms of reference. What we need is bravery and patriotism from the members of the CTC
Exactly, weren’t the ToR already agreed?
Let’s open our eyes how did the previous govt used to manage printing thousand copies? It it us to make changes not them making changes for us. We will just hear a lot of things that will shock us all am telling u some of u will find yoselvs in angola and u work up yo job has finished. Open yoz don’t support wrong things, the ctc nos the reason y they hav refused to sign it is for the good of our country.
All those efforts will be in vain. Ukwa and his team won’t gives the constitution until after the 2016 elections. Muleichusahafye. Mark my writings.
Zambia naha ya litoto!
Beatrice, please do not mislead the public on the draft constitution. This is a piece of writing etc, which will probably be changed and improved not the final version. The copies of the draft constitution can any as long as we are not wasteful.
@ pio
Ms Grillo is not misleading the public but yourself. The public came up with the draft and not govt. So it the public who should suggest amendments to the final draft before it becomes the ‘Supreme Law of the Land’.
@GUNDIXY
IF PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE NET OR NEWSPAPERS, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO GET PRINTED COPIES DELIVERED TO THEM?
PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS WASTED MILLIONS IN PRINTING COPIES WHICH WERE JUST USED AS TOILET TISSUES.
BYE ELECTIONS WILL NOT BE AVOIDABLE AS LONG AS HH IS WITH US.
WHAT’S THIS ABOUT NOT AVOIDING BY- ELECTIONS AS LONG AS HH IS AROUND?
This is really NONSENSE.
I will never agree with an ugly person.
Yes because you are uglier
TULI BA CHAMWENSO CHABE. THESE POLITICIANS WILL CONTINUE INTIMIDATING US WITH WHAT EVER THEY WANT. LOOK AT IG LIBONGANI, NO CLUE IN POLICE DUTIES. EVEN THIS CONSTITUTION OF YOURS WILL NOT BE REALISED BECAUSE THESES ARE THE SAME PEOPLE FROM UNIP, MMD AND NOW PA MAFI (PF). WHAT DO YOU EXPECT. AWE MWANDI!
mulelukako ne fikuti limbi kuti mwamonekako bwino mayo…
One Zambia, one nation….