President Lungu says it is sad that politicians have continued contradicting themselves by calling for human rights which they refused to give to Zambians by de-campaigning the Referendum on the bill of rights.
President Lungu has however indicated that government will undertake another referendum when funds allow.
Speaking when he met Human Rights Commissioners at State House in Lusaka today, President Lungu noted with concern the selfishness of some politicians who do not see beyond personal desires.
And President Lungu has revealed that the Ministry of Justice has made progress in amending the Public Order Act.
He also said that the executive does not guide the police on application of the Public Order Act provided that people requesting to protest or hold a rally meet all the conditions.
The Head of State further noted the need to start educating the media and police to freely do their jobs without any fear provided that all procedures are followed, and stories are not false.
And Human Rights Commissioner Chairperson Mudford Mwandenga also expressed sadness that the Bill of Rights did not go through in the referendum because it would have given people the much-needed rights.
Mr. Mwandenga has also called for increased funding to the commission for operations and setting up of new offices across the country.
He has also appealed to President Lungu to consider appointing a seventh commissioner for effective operations which the Head of State assured him saying it was an oversight.
Edgar Lungu blames referendum failure on selfish politicians. If selfish politicians campaigned against the referendum and succeeded by convincing the majority of Zambians, then the selfish politicians have
got majority followers in Zambia!
Be informed that the majority voted yes, only the yes vote did not meet the required threshold.
so how did he get 50 +1 % not even the more popular Sata managed that? Somehow the constitution changes and miraculously the first election under this rule manages to have a candidate that Garners 50+1 % hehehe! Anyway you where advised to hold the referendum separately becoz already some voters get confused with even with the general election and they actually needed more time to understand what a referendum was. And this advice was not only from the opposition but from other stakeholders. But as always the PF are stubborn in some instances they want to pretend that they are open to advice when in fact NOT!
What a great man- president Lungu is.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
This Lazy Bum has no leadership qualities nevermind him…he thinks he is a King or figurehead forgetting that he has to take responsibility as an elected official!!
@Cliford….., Please know that the referendum is based on the number/percentage of illegible registered voters than the number of people who actually voted. Which is very different from a presidential or general election. Read the Constitution!
Oops, meant to say ELIGIBLE voters….and not ILLIGIBLE voters
HH is the only leader who doesn’t support the “Bill of rights”.
He is scared that his personal Tonga club UPND might read the Bill of rights and wake up from their dogmatic slumber that has since been used by him a “Masochist”
Even his lawyers and Tonga supporters lacks conscious when it comes to supporting HH and his wife Mutinta.
HH might have been better off without Mutinta. Mugabe is down because of Grace.
Careful “Tonga Bull ” HH
This all you can think of??? tribe, tribe,tribe, tribalism day in day out. Wasted generation.
don’t hate the tongas,hate the british you drew up the border lines,if Belgium had come earlier to you speak to your chief you could have been Congolese. if you don’t like what the British did by putting you in the same box called Zambia with Tonga’s,you have a right to call for a referendum to push for a break away from them.am sure they will gladly welcome your move.do it if you are man enough.
donot be myopic and tribal , my brother Lungu himself should have listened what people and civil society , then you even question to win if the majority said no .
So lets bewise when vote there the power remains with us , donot cheat yourselves and pretend to be our masters not at all , becareful of those Kandiles just eating from him and using your office to steal from our Economy and the Chinese things will change some day , so a warning to you all who are stealing no names mentioned and the Airline issue sort it out , as we know the games there .
Can your 2016 election victory also be blamed on “selfish politicians”?
More people voted Yes but the turnout for the vote was not enough to pull it through.
“Speaking when he met Human Rights Commissioners at State House in Lusaka today, President Lungu noted with concern the selfishness of some politicians who do not see beyond personal desires.”
The president is describing himself his so consumed with 2021.
Who should correct the police if they are breaking the law in their application of the Public Order Act? It appears the Commander in Chief is washing his hands like Pilate.
I watched this meeting on ZNBC TV this morning. I was amazed at ECL’s maturity and composure, which cannot be said of some opposition politicians. Zambians made the right choice for a president. This man is presidential material. He is a true democrat despite malicious criticism and insults.
As one of the people tasked to enlighten the people on the bill of Rights I have concrete evidence that all Upnd supporters voted NO in the referendum. Most people we visited who no doubt belonged to the Upnd tribe were convinced that the referendum had an inbuilt mechanism that would translate the YES vote into a vote for Lungu and PF. No matter how much we tried it never worked. Talk of shooting one’side own feet.
since when did upnd become a tribe you forsaken goat?
Divide & rule, are you HH himself? You seem to be even forsaking your own needs to defend the man from fellow bloggers. Hugh, get a life man and think of a lot of things you can do for your self instead of worshipping your fellow human being who worked for himself to get to where he is.
So you didn’t know? It was founded by a Tonga, succeeded by a Tonga, 95% of MPS are Tonga and5% are tribal cousins. Same as councilors.
This is TOTALLY INSANE
It feels like vomiting, a normal PF person cannot stand this. This should not be condoned. You people stop this tribal hate. Tongas are Zambians just like you.
Honestly, you are not doing the country any good. You are dividers.
Let bloggers here judge for themselves!!!
Ba Kanene, nobody hates the Tongas but I know how bad and biased they can be. I’ve worked under some as my general manager and directors at zccm. Our friend was upgraded as editor of Mining Mirror only to have the appointment overturned and the position given to a Tonga .
@Ndanje,
Because of your experience with 2 Tongas does not justify your hatred for all Tongas. You should have kicked the a.s.ses off those two Tongas – general manager and directors. I do understand your frustration, and unfairness of those 2 I.D.I.OTS
But when that incident happened you did not act, you were silent, now instead decided to spew your poison on all Tongas behind the PC.
Awe bane, show the Tongas that you different and intelligent, but not through HATE, DAY-IN, DAY-OUT. It’s not benefiting anyone.
You can say that, because you didn’t experience it personally.
And I had my house burgled in kitwe , should I call all bembas theives ??
I have married a bemba woman,does that give me a right to call all bemba women my wives? ba ndanje grow balls even millet sized atleast.
@9.9 I’m not bothered about your uncouth language, but deep in your heart you know how a Tonga feels about we bembas. Did Hakainde rebuke Munkombwe when he publicly declared ” It’s our time to rule “? No he didn’t and who was “we ” because at the time Munkombwe was a minister in PF government? Sean said the same . Don’t forget what happened at Zambia Railways when Mazoka and Basil Monze were the bosses. Don’t bury your head just admit that a lot of bad things happened there enough to give Tongas a bad name .
Piecemeal amendments.
Lungu needs to be serious a lot of issues needed to addressed.
Question how did the referendum fail and and the same time lungu win the election its rather strange.
Your Excellency, truth is, Citizens were not sure what they were to vote for in the amended Bill of Rights. Few people understood what was contained in the amended Bill of Rights.
The Referendum should have taken place earlier or after the elections, after thorough explanations to the people of Zambia what is contained in the amended Bill of Rights and how the new Bill of Rights will benefit them.
Lets hope we will not have a repeat in 2021.
Upnd thought referendum was running mate to ecl. So they wasted their time decampaigning him at the expense of themselves.
Tell them that they lost a great opportunity because of the greed in their hearts
The referendum vote was run in parralel with the presidential vote and reflects the presidential vote , how did you not manage to get enough votes in presidential vote but had abysmal votes for the referendum ????
I am sure if upnd win, the first thing they could do is to check our identities from LT and roast us in the fire of hell.
The methodology was complicated that is they took advantage. It should have been just how many YESes and how many NOs
There you go Lungu, caught napping. Your strategy was to use the votes for the referendum to justify your win which could have been easily manipulated. The same number of people that voted yes in the referendum voted yes for you to be president. Therefore, you did not win the elections because you are contradicting yourself.
Ndanje you do not care about humanity and this tonga in the nite and tonga in the morning issue, all day in and day out is tonga is not a fair way of expressing your 2016 stollen election results results. The fight here is not between Tongas and Bemba nor you or me a Lozi man. If a war broke out it would not be ze Bemba vs Tongas but ll engulf every tribe.I donot believe you to be a Bemba thru the way your are coming out. You criticisms on matters of nayional interest are realy terrible. Your interest is to see other tribes fight in . Zambia was born out of 72 different tribes Tongas have existed from time british shared africa. No need for you to incite tribes to draw hate towards each others. Africa is one and zambia is a subset of it. Lets love one another as a country. Remember…
The Bill of Rights is just a piece of paper.
What people want to see is President Lungu taking immediate decisive action against Gross Human Rights Violations, being perpetuated, on his watch, by the Zambian intelligence also infamously known as the Office of the President (OP).
The Zambian Constitution guarantees protection from Torture and any other human rights abuses. But this is not the case in Zambia.