THE Zambia Youths Association in the Fight Against Corruption (ZYAFAC) says the call by Heritage Party president Godfrey Miyanda that the country should hold another national conference on the constitutional-making process is an attempt to waste public funds and time.
And Patriotic Front Lusaka Province youth chairperson Kennedy Kamba said it is sad that Brigadier-General Miyanda wants to subvert popular demand for a people-driven constitution.
ZYAFAC executive director Rickson Kanema says President Lungu should dismiss Gen Miyanda’s petition against the constitution amendment bill “with the contempt it deserves”.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Kanema said President Lungu has shown good commitment on the constitution-making process and should ignore Gen Miyanda’s time-wasting tactics.
“Our organisation is wondering why Gen Miyanda is afraid to raise 100 supporters per province to support his presidential nomination. As youths, we believe such articles are needed in our constitution in order to avoid wasting taxpayers’ money for extra ink on ballot papers for nothing,” he said.
Mr Kanema said Gen Miyanda served as republican Vice-President under the MMD from 1993 to 1997 and had all the time and influence to enable him give Zambians a people driven-constitution but did not do so.
Meanwhile, the PF in Lusaka has urged President Lungu not to ignore “detractors” rather go ahead and sign the constitution of Zambia and constitutional of Zambia amendment bills to fullfil the demands of Zambians for a popular constitution.
Mr Kamba said it is unfortunate that Gen Miyanda wants to go against popular demand for a people-driven constitution.
He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the opposition leader has petitioned the President not to sign the constitution bills into law.
“When the party was campaigning prior to the January 20, 2015 presidential elections, we promised the people of Zambia that we would deliver a people-driven constitution and this is what we should do.
“We are, however, very sad that there are some people who don’t want the President to sign the two bills into law. This is very retrogressive,” he said.
Mr Kamba said the youths are confident that President Lungu will soon assent to the amended constitution bills because they contain the aspirations of the people on how the country should be governed.
He said it is good that Mr Lungu has shown political will to give Zambians the kind of constitution they have longed for.
Mr Kamba said the constitution is an important document and that all Zambians should give it the necessary support.
He said President Lungu should, therefore, dismiss Gen Miyanda’s petition for lack of merit.
Mr Kamba is also disappointed that Gen Miyanda could accuse Minister of Justice Ngosa Simbyakula of having failed to provide leadership in the constitution-making process when Government had tabled the constitution bills before Parliament for debate and enactment.
Meanwhile, PF mobilisation committee chairperson Nigel Mpakateni has urged the party membership to mobilise effectively and give President Lungu 100 percent support during the 2016 general elections.
These are the youths speaking & don’t realize Gen Miyanda has much experience than all of us on this platform or in this area of constitution making. Please think through before we rush this constitution to be signed through by Lungu. Lungu doesn’t have a mind of his own, people think for him. DON’T RUSH!
Rubbish how many years are you going to postpone this constitution, another 50yrs? Miyanda has no followers. How can one person hold the country at ransom?
That petition should only have been entertained if Miyanda had got at least 1 million people to sign it. Otherwise, tomorrow, I’m going to write a petition with my own issues on the constitution.
Bamudala ba Miyanda naimwe you like hiding in the tunnel until the last minute! Why don’t you bring out your good ideas when it is still day than wait until the last minute? Work while its day. Same thing applies during campaigns you show up at the last minute! No wonder your party never performs well in elections!
Reading between the lines, it is scary to think of what kind of future leaders our Country is going to have from today’s young adults who totally seem to lack capacity to grasp the core subject and debate point-for-point.
The fact that ZYAFAC executive director Rickson Kanema FAILS TO ACKNOWLEDGE the core subject’ i.e. that Republican President Edgar Lungu is on record to have said he will sign such an important document “with his eyes closed” says a lot about Rickson Kanema.
I am glad that President Lungu has acceded to Brig. Gen. Godfrey Miyanda’s advice to open his eyes and read and understand before signing.
BRAVO CACTUS, THIS SO CALLED YOUTH LEADER THE DO NOT GIVE SOME OF US HOPE, WORSE STILL THEY DONT TAKE TIME TO READ AND ANALYSIS ISSUES.