THE Patriotic Front (PF) says the Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People-Driven Constitution cannot usurp or interfere with the powers of the legislature by standing in the way of its mandate.
PF Media vice-chairperson Sunday Chanda said Parliament has powers to amend the law.
“It is unthinkable for the Grand Coalition to argue for Parliament to abdicate its powers to civil society groupings. The excitement by Grand Coalition to exaggerate their prominence on matters of the constitution is not informed by nationhood,” he said.
In a statement released yesterday, Mr Chanda said it will therefore be irresponsible for Zambia to surrender legislative decisions to civil society organisations.
He charged that the Grand Coalition knows too well that Zambians remain divided on the content of the final draft Constitution.
“We wonder therefore why a civil society grouping such as Grand Coalition continues to underplay the importance of consensus before it is subjected to a vote,” Mr Chanda said.
He said the Grand Coalition knows that the logical route to go is that what can be amended in less costly ways.
“It must be a source of concern that the Grand Coalition does not want to discuss or debate contents of the final draft constitution but would rather the process is rushed into a referendum when the majority of our citizens have not been allowed to debate what concerns them the most,” Mr Chanda said.
He said if the Grand Coalition seeks to remain relevant to the constitution-making process, it is called upon to focus on things that matter and not merely dwelling on peripheral issues of process.
Mr Chanda said it is misleading for the Grand Coalition to assert that the approach to handling clauses that can be amended is against the expectations of the people of Zambia.
Yes they r jus noise makers,president edgar lungu,knoz what he is doin,he will giv us a people driven constituion.not that nonsense that thid thugs r makin
Grand coalition have already chewed donor funds which they got on pretext of effecting the adoption of the constitution amendment through a referendum. So they are in a hurry to cover up for that mistake. We all know that adoption of the clauses that affect us most can be dealt with through parley at no cost to govt and the rest which dI don’t affect us directly can be done at the same time with the general elections 2016 at the cost of the tripartite elections. Parliament represents all sections of Zambia and are in right order to amend the constitution on our behalf.
Sunday Chanda has “became toothless” since joining PF. He is there to please his Master. He has became saltless, useless & does not care & love the people any more for the sake of pleasing PF. That’s what the love of power, money & fame can do. Such men will never move people, but men of integrity do. There are few men & women of integrity in PF who would stand with the people & never compromise, but serve the people in sincerity. The final draft constitution needs to be subjected to referendum not to the majority PF MPs in parliament who would be biased towards what PF wants. The just ended election suggests that subjecting final draft constitution to parliament will never represent the majority because many people did not vote. MPs lets us down by approving higher royalties, E.g.
Well said Sunday Chanda!
Monday Chanda is politically and morally impotent