Friday, March 29, 2024

Constitution flop temporal setback, RB

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President Rupiah Banda has described the collapse of the constitutional reform process as a temporal setback.

Mr. Banda says all hope is not lost following yesterday’s happenings in parliament were the constitutional bill failed to pass through second reading.

Mr. Banda told ZNBC said that the set back in the constitutional reforms is not one that would make government and the country lose hope.

The President said government will look for the way forward over the constitutional reforms.

The Constitution of Zambia Bill failed to pass second reading after Members of Parliament voted twice but failed to garner the two third’s majority for the Bill to pass.

And Vice President George Kunda says the constitution of Zambia bill and Constitution of Zambia amendment bill can only be brought back before parliament after six months.

Mr. Kunda says although failure to enact the two pieces of legislation by parliament has deprived the nation an opportunity to reform the governance system, government remains committed to the constitution review process.

The Vice President was speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka today.

Mr. Kunda said that inability by parliament to enact the constitution means that Zambians has lost out on an opportunity to provide and enhance legal framework for them.

Mr. Kunda said the opposition UPND wanted government to include the 50 percent plus one vote, hoping for a possibility of forming a coalition government with the MMD.

He said that the MMD realized that the 50 percent plus One vote for a presidential candidate was referred to the referendum and that the issue of forming a coalition government with the UPND could not be accommodated as it required further consultations between the two parties.
[ ZNBC ]

44 COMMENTS

  1. During a press conference today, Vice-President George Kunda alleged that the UPND MPs voted against the NCC Bill after MMD MPs agreed to remove the 50+1 clause. He said the UPND’s scheme was to negotiate a coalition government with the MMD in the event that this year’s elections had to go for a rerun.
    Meanwhile at another press conference briefing at the PF Secretariat on Luanshya road in Lusaka, Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata demanded that President Rupiah Banda dissolves parliament since, for the first time ever since independence in 1964, a ruling party had been defeated in parliament by the opposition minority.

  2. I am at pains cos my aspirations for dual citizenship has been dashed!! Lets hope the next MPs (after elections) especially from the hooligans will be responsible.

  3. In a statement this morning, UPND Member of Parliament for Namwala Major Robbie Chizyuka has demanded that all UPND MPs who attended the NCC deliberations in the last two years and were paid sitting and travel allowances should refund the Government. Chizyuka said it was straight theft amounting to obtaining money by false pretence from the poor Zambian tax payers for a job they declined to deliver, when it mattered most.
    He accused the MPs of caring more about their pockets and stomachs at the expense of the suffering poor masses.
    Over K1.3 Trillion was spent on the NCC exercise in allowances and other logistics for the 495 members that included UPND MPs and half of PF MPs, ‘rebels’.

  4. By the way, the 50%+1 vote DOES NOT directly result in a coalition government becoming necessary. It ONLY ensures that one of the Presidential candidates wins a majority vote to become President. Period! A Coalition government only becomes necessary depending on the outcome of the separate vote for MPs. If no Party wins a majority of MPs then a coalition is sought in order to pass legislation in Parliament. In our Presidential system, the President’s vote is totally independent from the Parliamentary vote!!!!!! It is NOT the same as the British system where the Prime Minister is an MP and and hung parliament requires a coalition immediately.

  5. Its just another way of UPND wanting to benefit from the allowances further sittings would entail they should stop receiving allowances if they dont believe in what they are doing there.

  6. Ba LT the word TEMPORAL is wrongly used means worldly.There is nothing provident about the oppressive document MMD was trying to peddle.The word to use is supposed to be TEMPORARY meaning short-lived.

  7. ” government remains committed to the constitution review process” More workshops and allowances are coming.

  8. To Mr R B Banda: this is a reflection that the people of Zambia have rejected the proposed new constitution. For me, I am opposed for the following:
    1. increase of MPs from 150 to 340 in a poor country is wrong. Zambia cannot afford 340 MPs!
    2. non-inlcusion of basic human rights, e.g. access to clean drinking water, shelter, land, education etc
    3. non-inclusion of presidential running mate, fixed election date and fixed transition period after elections
    4. more powers to local government in town and country planning, building permission, provision of basic services, e.g. garbage collection, street cleaning, pothole mending, etc
    5. independence of ECZ, BoZ, Judiciary, Police (DEC, ACC) etc
    6. inclusion of 50+1 in constitution is a must!
    7. Zambians abraod to vote from embassies

  9. Kunda and HH are both wankers. HH should hve known that the NCC was just rubbish, but because he wanted to fix Sata he still went a head to share the MMD faeces.

  10. kunda is sick in the head,,,why blame UPND when they have their own MPs..?heheheheh..politics is the name of the game..

  11. Mr president, your response is chilling, non confrontational. You ve given hope; this is way real men and democrates address issues not the Gadaffi or Gbagbo way.

  12. Dear Movement For Multi-Party ‘Democracy’,
    Your foundations were paved with good intentions (Just like the road to Hell is), You have tried to please me with your style of Leadership… From clever usage of words, to feeble words of greatness and legacy and now am not sure of who you have become…Your founding Father has turned into a cadre (To be continued as a note later)…With Love, Very concerned Citizen

  13. All of you PF carders blaming UPND/HH over this botched constitution process are so myopic and fail to appreciate democracy. Tell me you PF carders were you going to be happy had UPND mps voted for this.Dont you realise that this incomplete so called draft constitution would gone through.We talk about principles in UPND we mean just that.UPND debates AT NCC are well known and what the party stands for is well known unlike the PF. Most important closes were rejected by mmd and their followers during debates at NCC simply because status quo favors them. I can assure yopu that after this debacle,the country will have a very good constitution because of UPND MPs intelligency and standing firm on principle. And please dont blame the mps for allowance taken.The NCC act requires mps to be…

  14. Take it back to parliament after six months and pass it as long as 75% of those who will vote support its passing. Those who abstain should not determine the way forward. As soon as a person abstains, he/she becomes irrelevant to the process.

  15. Temporal setback………? ooh! even the seot 2011 elections will be a minorsetback sir. but you will find yourself at the farm.

  16. And who told you that UPND sponsored degree clause.You want believe Kunda now when you have insulting him all along. Check before you believe what these politicians say.NCC debates are there for all interested to know who said what.How can UPND sponsor when they debated against it.

  17. VIVA SATA AND PF FOR THE WIND OF CHANGE COME 2011.
    DONT WASTE YOUR VOTE ON SMALL TRIBAL PARTIES IF YOU WANT CHANGE.
    VOTE SATA AND PF
    BE PART OF THE BALLOT REVOLUTION
    MWAMUKOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  18. No wonder the marriage couldn’t work because the UPND was the biggest prostitute here, Shame on you both. viva Sata and his PF party he has demonstrated true maturity.

  19. This constitution was agreed by UPND MPs in NCC, we have no record of their dissent. If the same MPs caused the Bill to fail then I am left with no option but to agree with Major Chizyuka who demanded that these so called honourable guys refund the money they received as sitting allowances. Since the law has no provision for this, I propose that a Bill be tabled in parliament to amend the law so that UPND MPs refund those allowances. I am sure such a motion can succeed since for the first time, PF MPs would support the motion (for their own reasons of course) together with MMD. The amendment bill should be tabled urgently before Parliament is dissolved so that we can recover those monies from their gratuity.

  20. Personally I think this is a good thing whether it’s mechanics by UPND or not. Hopefully PF MPs voted against it aswell.

  21. #32, yes indeed that is democracy in so far as these MPs were practicing their rights but that is as far as it goes. If these honourable men and women had brought up their objections at NCC, this matter would have been resolved then. The fact that they agreed at that time and then later failed to support a bill which they had earlier supported in NCC is a waste of our money and time and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

  22. At least I now have hope that we will still have a new constitution, probably after six months. By my counting that is in October. By that time Parliament will have a new face. If Zambians want this amendment to be passed then they must vote for MPS who will support it. If we want changes to its current form then its not passing now is a blessing to us as we can make it a campaign issue by asking candidates if they will support it or not and why. Asking for those who participated in the NCC to refund the money they earned legally is a waste of time.

  23. Let me just correct one misconception: it is not correct to state that whoever attended the NCC agreed with everything that was included in the draft constitution which has been rejected by Parliament. Even at the NCC, the majority always won. So it is possible that UPND MPs did not agree with some or all of the amendments passed by the NCC. I stand to be corrected if i am wrong. They may have lost the vote then but this time their vote or abstainance has counted.

  24. You greedy MPs not everything in the bill was bad.You are talking of Zambians in diaspora to come back to zambia and invest when you cannot allow them dual citizenship. Zambia is a country where we dont take things seriously.

  25. RB is lame in the head how can a constitution flop be a temporal set back. A constitution flop should be taken as a crisis and heads should roll inthe MMD legal cluster. Kunda should be fired. This flop puts RB ‘s presidency in jeopardy. I m surprised LAZ is queit about this when the implication of this flop should be explained by the LAZ. Kano fye ifya bu homo they are quick to explain the constittion. LAZ is just a bunch of low lives with no direction

  26. Don’t by the story of the coalition government. These are words of a defeated man who won’t take responsibility for a loss. Despite all the MMD members present voting, if some of you in the diaspora had a chance to speak in confidence to some of them some of the senior members of the MMD didn’t like the proposals too. They were more in support of the Mungomba draft.

  27. Editors and staff of Zambia Daily mail, Times of Zambia and ZNBC Are you. Reading what ha happened in Egypt? The countdown begins
    Egypt government sacks editors of state media

    30 March 2011, 7:14 PM

    CAIRO – Egypt’s army-backed interim government sacked several state newspaper editors and officials on Wednesday, a move long awaited by protesters who ousted President Hosni Mubarak and demanded a purge of state media.

    Government-owned media played down the scale of the protests that inspired a series of uprisings across the region. For a while they condemned the demonstrators as agents of Iran and Shi’ite guerrilla group Hezbollah, or simply as vandals.

    State newspapers and broadcasters changed their reporting after Mubarak handed power to the military on Feb. 11 but many…

  28. State newspapers and broadcasters changed their reporting after Mubarak handed power to the military on Feb. 11 but many editors stayed on, irking reformists who have demanded more than just cosmetic changes in state institutions.

    He was replaced by Abdel Azim Hamad, the former editor of an independent newspaper and an al-Ahram veteran who is a prominent political commentator.

    Hamad was one of 18 newspaper editors and senior managers appointed in the reshuffle that affected six major state media publishing houses, newspapers and the country’s news agency.

    “The restructuring of Egypt’s media sector comes along with the spirit of change and as a response to the demands of the current phase Egypt is witnessing,” Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said in a statement.

    The statement…

  29. You guys why are you calling UPND al sorts of names?They They went to NCC to make sure that we have a good consitution they wanted a 50 + 1 % but they lost because they were few when it came to voting.Had PF participated maybe it would have been a diffrerent story.Now that what they wanted did not come into being they have simply rejected it!.So Why blaming them?Remember with or without UPND the NCC was going to take place and the UPND categorically mentioned they fact that they were going into the NCC to fight for the zambians inside the NCC .

  30. Ba Banda Kuyabebele. Mwaiba shafula, 200 billion kwacha is a lot of mane.

    You better start packing luggage now.

    Chanda Chimba start looking for a place abroad to stay for the next 5 yrs. Get yo campagn mane from RB, otherwise sept will be too late for you.

  31. Read This:Shikapwasha blamed the PF and UPND for flop of constitution that they have denied the zambians of a good constitution–rubbish.MMD u are the ones who have denied zambians.people want 50+1 % but u refuse.which people do u speak for.its good that UPND MPs got the money and showed u that eat the money and do the rite thing later.People we ll not go anywhere with this MMD.plz change is needed.

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