THE Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) says it is in support of Government’s stance to deal with contentions issues through parliament and enact the Constitution in piecemeal.
EFZ executive director Pukuta Mwanza said in a statement that his organisation was in support of a two tier approach of having some of the articles of the Constitution to be presented to parliament while the Bill of Rights goes to the referendum to be conducted with the tripartite elections in order to kill two birds with one stone and save resources and time.
“We bear in mind that the tripartite elections are due 15 months away and that conducting a referendum will require to be preceded by a voter registration exercise specifically aimed at meeting the referendum in the past,”
“Although, we stood firmly in the past for the referendum, this is impracticable at the moment considering the limited time available for all the processes. In this regard, we support the proposed piecemeal approach to enacting the constitution provided we get the expected results in having the constitution that the Zambian people have always wanted,” the EFZ said.
The EFZ did not see the possibility of holding a referendum before 2016 was impracticable as Zambia had already lost so much time already.
“We therefore support the piecemeal approach as long as the final result can guarantee that the will of the majority of the people who submitted in favour of popular articles will be respected,” he said.
Rev. Mwanza urged Government to hasten the Constitution process and conclude on time considering that the process had already gobbled huge sums of money.
Government should also ensure continued dialogue and engagement to promote transparency and accountability in the constitution making process
The cycle continues. This process was started some 20 years ago now. With the kind of leaders we elect I actually don’t see a decent constitution 20 years from now.
This country is a mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All that was needed to confirm was the origin of the name and one knows which side the comment will favour. This is a very sad development.
We knew many people will support Edgar on this. It took longer than we thought, but it is now happening. Only HH and his team still fail to see sense in this approach.
Pukuta…..name says alot about him.
Wise words. As any constitution should be, amended.
Viva President Nawakwi.
Same old stup.id idea of recycling the bloody constitution. Why can’t we have a decent human President kanshi who can stear this constitution not for the short term goodness of him having an advantage but for the goodness of our kids. This EFZ blindly supporting this piecemeal amendments. It is evident that next year, ECZ won’t be in a position to carry out Parliamentary, Presidential, Local government and this so called referendum at once. We saw what happened last January during Presidential by-election, it took almost a week to come up with a verdict. What more with all the above. Silliness to the core.
Am urging the Govt not to pass 5o+1 clause,running mate clause and land issues.we dont want them bcoz kuti fyaletafye confusion,let us continue with our old constitution we dont want ifyakukopa ku basungu.And you mwetu ma NGos be patriotic,sometimes u talk as if ua not zambian,muleibwelamo.
@karods…..
You are behaving like a comedian condemning people wearing European clothes while dressed in the same. Democracy is good for all races including Zambians. All people are asking for is fairness in politics. 50+1 is good for all parties, even the current ruling party. PF claims to be popular especially from results of recent by-elections. We are merely asking Govt to allow a constitution that will give Zambians a majority president. It is not against ECL. It is a public desire.
NO THE ONLY CONFUSION IS YOUR HEAD AND YOUR USELESS PARTY.HOW LONG ARE W GOING TO TALK OVER TIS ISSUE?
Piecemeal/two tier, YES, if only the Bill of Rights shall be the only ones that shall be the subject of Referendum, while the rest of the new Clauses, including the so-called contentious Clauses go to Parliament now!
Some of the rights can be included in the other sections than the bill of rights section it also helps to come up with an acceptable constitution
Constitution is for all as those who have come out of government have seen. because when they are in Govt they do not see these things.
I hope PF means well, call a round table meeting with stakeholders and other political parties, decide on those items to be taken to parliament and it will pass through and we can shift to other pressing issues instead of constitution all the time for 20 years we are tired.