The Grand Coalition for a people driven constitution has charged that Zambians have lost confidence in the ability of government to enact a good constitution.
The Coalition has since challenged government to come clean on the constitution making process in view of this lost confidence by the Zambian people.
Grand Coalition Chairperson Father Leonard Chiti has told a media briefing in Lusaka this morning that the Coalition maintains its rejection of government’s decision to enact the constitution in piecemeal through Parliament.
Fr Chiti says it is amazing how government has thrown away its own created draft roadmap in which it stated that it will make consultations with stakeholders on the constitution making process.
Below is the full statement
Press Statement
For immediate release
Lusaka, May 15th, 2015/– The Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People Driven Constitution maintains its principled stance and we hereby put on record that we strongly reject government’s decision to enact the constitution in a piecemeal manner through parliament.
The Grand Coalition states in no uncertain terms that the wisdom and will of the people of Zambia cannot be undermined in the manner the PF is doing and therefore citizens must rise to the occasion and reject the piecemeal amendments to the constitution.
It is amazing how government has thrown away its own crated draft roadmap in which it stated that it will make consultations with stakeholders on the constitution making process. The Grand Coalition is not aware which stakeholders were consulted when it came up with ‘contentious’ and non-Contentious clauses to take to parliament.
The government has announced that it will enact the new constitution through parliament in a piecemeal manner by taking to parliament ‘non-contentious’ clauses and subjecting the Bill of Rights and ‘contentious’ clauses to a referendum to be held simultaneously with the 2016 general elections.
The Grand Coalition calls on government to explain what these ‘contentious’ and ‘non-contentious’ clauses are in the constitution. The government seems to define as contentious anything that they perceive to contradict their interests.
From the stand-point of the Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People Driven Constitution, the only articles identified by the national constitution conference as contentious are the recognition of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 and the retention of the Death Penalty.
In this regard, we want to believe that the government will take the contentious Barotseland Agreement of 1964 and the Death penalty to the referendum since these two are the only contentious clauses in the constitution. Anything short of this is manipulation of both the content and the process.
It has become abundantly clear that the constitution making process has been sabotaged by those in power. The rights and aspirations of the people have been ignored owing to the lack of consultations, transparency, and accountability by the government in the finalization of the constitution.
The Grand Coalition calls on government to come clean on the constitution making process because the people of Zambia have lost trust and confidence in the ability of government to enact a good constitution for the country given the inconsistent pronouncements and actions in the constitution making process.
Initially, the constitution making process was people driven through the district and provincial consultative processes that gathered citizen’s input into the draft. It is therefore disheartening that the people’s voices have been deliberately and maliciously obscured by individuals and groups of individuals who want to benefit from weak constitution.
Government has sabotaged the constitution making process, by adopting shortcuts and methods that have removed the people’s participation.
The proposed constitution is not the property of government. The constitution belongs to the people and it is the people’s power that is vested in the constitution. The government is therefore mandated to listen to the people who own the constitution.
For/THE GRAND COALITION
Fr. Leonard Chiti
CHAIRPERSON
so what…too much yap yap from the grand corrosion. we are tired!
Who is interested in BRE64 and death penalty. Those can be done through referendum together with general elections. Imagine if people were made aware that we going for a referendum today how many can participate, it can be a flop. Govt on the other hand is not fair to subject citizens to vote for BRe. What is GC stand on this one.
Holding of the referendum simultaneously with elections is blackmailing the people of Zambia by duping them to voting for the BRE. If the GC is against this move I can support them.
Father Chiti and company are misguided. The BA64 was consented to by two entities, the NR President and the Litunga. No referendum was carried out in 1964 to confirm the BA64. Accordingly there is no need for a referendum now. The parties to it can dissolve or change it themselves without involving Zambians in this mess.
@ sponge bob: Constitution making is a “willing seller willing buyer” process. Subjecting people to a referundum, (and civic education for that matter) does not necessarily guarantee it’s positive outcome. It can fail many times and be repealed for another attempt. It is a costly affair but the govt has to try it’s level best. Partly, due to time limit and financial constraints the most immediate issues can be solved in parliament but the govt has to show the will and zeal by pushing it to their level best . The public has the final say as to how they want to be governed no matter what it costs.
@man Nairobi
I think govt is moving with mood of the people and it has stated that they have no issue holding of the referendum before elections 2016. What seems to be a problem here is spending for what you already know the outcome which is failure to reach the required numbers. We all know that the cost of holding a referendum is almost the same as a tripartite election. Now what’s the point In spending for something which can be done at no cost when we go through parley and tripartite election. I think this is where GC is failing to tell us the truth.
@Sponge Bob
This govt has spent willy nilly on by-elections under the pretext that it was a constitutional requirement. Why can’t they do the same on the referendum as it is a constitutional requirement? Don’t play the stonewalling game.
@ Sponge bob. I concur with you. Here in Kenya it failed in 2005 as it was hastly subjected to the people. A new ammended one was attempted to the public again in 2010 and it passed overwhelmingly. I have both copies and in comparison, I now see the first one was a total misguide. Let Zambians not ask for it just for 2016 election concerns but for future breakthrough both in a personal and national capacity. Good luck.