By Amon Jere.
The Constitutional amendment Bill number 10, popularly known as bill 10, was meant to fix lacunas in our current constitution amendment Act number 9 of 2016. Therefore, Bill 10 presented an opportunity to fix the lacunas in our current Zambian Constitution.
Indeed, the Bill had a lot of progressive clauses and its collapse has robbed the people of Zambia of progressive Constitutional development.
The biggest losers are the Zambian people, more particularly the women, youth and the differently abled. The Zambian youth, women and the differently abled, have been robbed of the opportunity for effective representation in Parliament. We have also lost the opportunity of delimiting our vast constituencies especially rural ones. Smaller constituencies would have made it easier for government to deliver services effectively and bring development closer to the people. It is sad that the opposition turned a very progressive constitutional development agenda into a partisan political issue.
In the 2016 General Elections, the same opposition fought and defeated the Referendum on the Bill of Rights, which was also a very progressive Constitutional development.
The Bill of Rights was going to enhance the rights of all Zambians and would have addressed the Public Order ACT at the same time.
From the foregoing, it is clear that the opposition are not on the side of the Zambian people.
The opposition have fought at every turn, efforts by the PF Government to enhance the rights and improve the living standards of every Zambian, without leaving anyone behind irrespective of their race, tribe, gender or other physical and social disposition.
I therefore call upon all Zambians to wake up and also turn their backs on the opposition. It is strange that some sections of the opposition in Zambia are desperately trying to link the collapse of bill 10 to the eligibility of President Lungu to stand in 2021.
It is a fact that Bill 10 had nothing to do with the eligibility of President Edger Chagwa Lungu.
President Lungu qualifies to run for Presidency in the 2021 Presidential elections, with or without Bill 10. Constitutionally, there is nothing that can bar president Lungu from running for office of Republican President in August 2021.
The Constitutional Court judgement is very clear and leaves no iota of doubt on the eligibility of President Lungu to run for Presidency in the 2021 General Elections, when it stated that the period between 2015 and 2016 when President Lungu served as Republican President following a byelection, after the demise of President Sata, does not constitute a “term of office”.
Therefore, President Lungu is fully entitled to serving two full Five-year terms of office, the first being August 2016 to August 2021 and the second being August 2021 to August 2026. Let it be known that the decision of the Constitutional court is final and cannot be appealed or challenged.
This means that the talk of challenging President Lungu’s eligibility in the Constitutional Court, can best be described as pedestrian talk, lumpenism or a tavern discussion by serial litigants over a gallon of Chibuku.
I make a passionate and rallying call to the Patriotic Front family as follows: I appeal to all PF members in Zambia and in Eastern province in particular, to be united and focused on mobilizing the party on the ground, so that together we can deliver a resounding victory for the President and our Party in August 2021.
I am calling for party unity in Eastern Province. Let us all work as one with a single unity of purpose and that purpose is to get our President re-elected in 2021.
I am calling for an end to intra party fighting and arbitrary suspensions, especially in Eastern Province.
Well articulated Mr. Jere.
Possible that this compliment above could be from the author himself, the article is misleading and must be discarded with the contempt it deserves, this is a person aspiring for adoption, so he has to be visible despite having nothing to offer. Nobody should ever dream that bill 10 was going to change our economic fortunes. Was bill 10 going to bring back the dollar to K5 where MMD left it. The author is MMD and he should know better.
And in the authors thinking is that we should still have passed bill 10 even with the poison which was in there. We cant have deputy ministers because you want a job. NO. However, we will let you continue to mourn.
I fail to understand this, you fail where you are coming from and strangely you think you can make it in politics. It does not work that way.People of Chipata and ourselves as PF should not make mistakes on adoptions next year. We fought for this party for any Jim and Jack to come and hijack it. Much as the author is aligned to our thinking, he is not one of us
Coo on sense tells us that trash 10 would have created more lacunas! It purported to clear lacunas but was meant to perpetuate “koswe mumpoto “ kind of governance!! We don’t want a “mwankole” driven process but a constitution that will stand the test of time!!!
We know you Amon Jere. You have no brains at all. Of course you are saying that nonsense just because you want to be the MP for Chipata Central. How can a normal person sing praises for Bill 10 which was mainly about giving Lungu a third term. Did you think we are foolish enough not to see through your hidden agenda. Just stop that nonsense. Bill 10 will never come back. By the way, are you still liking Dora’s pussi?
Thank you, Amon. This opposition is the worst this country has ever had. They will sabotage the country for their leader. They don’t deserve to be in our legislature.
Bill 10 was an evil attempt to destroy Zambia’s democracy.
Thank God the progressive MP’s ,the civil society and the church worked together to bring down bill 10 and protect our young and fragile democracy.
JERE WHAT KIND OF WEED DO U SMOKE?LUNGU BILL HAS DIED.AND THOSE 3 MPS MEAN SO WELL NOT THESE SOME *****S WHO FOLLOW BLINDLY.JUST LIKE THIS MORON KZ AND SUNDAY
Pleas, be clear that is is not Dickson Jere, the respected advisor of RB but a PF cader who does not understand anything.
Complaining about constituencies , yet the morron does not know PF created many constituencies without bill 10, complaining about youth representation when they have failed to provide jobs for the youth , compining about women representation as if parliament does not have women ??
Do disabled people need a change in the constitution ?? No laws are there already , they just need implementing….
Morron …..
Mr. Jere you can adopt bill 10 for yourself and use it at home. It should not even be bill 10 it’s bill Lungu. Nothing it provided any real benefit to Zambians only wasted money.
But ni mbbwa ishi… So many shortage of medical equipment, not knowing that the PF mps wearing in parliament, ukunyelamo amasushi.
Why is this amon jere showing his ignorance in public, has he never heard of LUFUBU CONSTITUENCE in a new DISTRICT CALLED NGABWE in central province of zambia which was created in 2016 using the current constitution and not bill 10. and five more were created which puts the current constituencies at 156 from the initial 150, and moses sichula and zambia citizen are busy applauding his ignorance. can any pf cadre tell us the number of youths, women and disabled that were supposed to be represented in parliament according to bill 10, give us figures and not just saying mixed member representation. ba zambia citizen give us the figures.
The failure by the opposition UPND to take matters of the Constitution seriously has exposed their real character that they are petty and liars.
The celebrations that we saw at HH’s residence and on social media simply showed who really the Mwankoles are. The Mwankoles were hovering and flying above HH’s residence making all sorts of noise over rotten cattle carcases.
They are now crying over public order act but they are the ones who cheated Zambians in 2016 that should they vote YES to the Referendum matter they will be voting YES to introduction of homosexuality in Zambia. Seasoned liars!!!!! Today they are drinking their own poison.
Bill 10 will come back to haunt the UPND and they should be ready to face the consequences of defranchising the Youths, differently a led and…
The public order act is a very good piece of legislation if not abused by the Police designed to help maintain law and order. It does not even require bill 10. All that is required is for the Police not to give permits as they do not have such powers.
Another misled soul trying to seek attention of his colleagues. For clarity, the current constitution still allows women, the disabled and the youths to participate in any national activity. Don’t mislead each other here, NOTHING has been lost out of bill 10. On the eligibility, the court process is for somebody to be declared eligible he must be before court. So was your candidate before court So stop hallucinating here.
Lacunas could be fixed without bill 10. You will need to learn one or two things on the constitution making process, it is not only the content that matters. Obviously after being ejected from the corporate world, you have one or two things to learn. Also learn that our parliament is a democratic one, familiarize yourself with the two thirds majority, Don’t force MPs to vote for what they do not want including the ones from your party. Democracy won
Indeed it did. This was just not about the changes government proposed. It was an opportunity for all stakeholders across party lines to contribute and recommend changes for a better constitution. However, our dull friends in upnd saw this in political eyes and were running away from debates. Very cowardly behaviour. Very disappointing and childish. We know they get it from their childish leader who has never held public office, not even as a public toilet manager
When one is dictatorial by nature they may not even appreciate that bill 10 was settled through a democratic process in parliament. More over the current constitution does not even bar the youths, women and the disabled from taking part in any national affairs.
PF already admitted a month ago that the Supreme Court did not declare lungu eligible. We have not forgotten. We watch, we listen. Bill 10 is just the beginning of the end.
Remember what HH said after the 2016 elections, “We are talking to Trump”. We are still waiting to hear what was the conclusion this is 2020. I don’t know whether they are still talking to date. Surprisingly his members cheered. HH either lied that he is talking to Trump or Trump didn’t want to talk to him..
Article is too late. Eastern Province is already decided. Eligibility will be decided on nomination. Vice President Wina is a woman and Vice President. Lazarous Tembo was blind and Minister of state for culture in UNIP government. Christopher Kang’ombe and Romeo Kang’ombe are youths and have portifolios. What is required is just political will and not bill 10 please.
Yes this Jere thinks we are as dumb as he is. We all saw the shenanigans in Bill 10 and voila! Mbu! It fell. It was adulterated with crap, a lot of crap. Much like sugar coating cyanide, it will still be toxic man. Take Bill 10 and give it kumawa kwamene kuja. Mukapase nkumba tikaone ngati zizankala. Pucheki!
The article is misleading as it may be portraying a picture that women, the disabled and the youth can only participate in national affairs if bill 10 had passed, obviously this is not correct. The correct position is that women, the disabled and the youths can still very much participate, the onus is on individual political parties to adopt such groupings which we have not even seen from the PF itself in the past. The President can nominate up to 10 MPs and we have not even seen him adopt women, the disabled and the youths in his tenure as President. Obviously if you believe in something you cant wait for the law to compel you to do it, you demonstrate by yourself.
And whilst PF Parliamentary Chief whip kept saying the PF had given their MPs liberty to vote for bill 10 according to their conscious, PF secretary general now says the PF President had given instructions that all PF MPs should have voted for bill 10 and the three who did not will have to face disciplinary sanctions. MPs go to parliament to represent their constituencies, why punish MPs for carrying out their constituents mandate. Why then do we continue calling ourselves a democracy, a ruling party clearly failing to live by democratic tenets.
The way the mighty PF have mourned the demise of Bill 10! I can’t imagine how they’ll weep when we kick Edgar out of State House. Chitalu Chilufya must ensure that there’s enough oxygen in clinics and hospital, he must also ensure that the mobile hospitals are up and running because many in PF won’t be able to handle the loss power
This PF Party is the worst to have ever graced the Zambian landscape. How can somebody who has been to school see inflation sky rocket to double digit, reserves depleted, nothing happening to have the youths employed, exchange rate uncontrollable, mining production go down with retrenchments and choking debts. How can somebody who saw MMD dollar kwacha rate at K5, Fuel at K5 per litre, Infation at 6%,plenty reserves, clear benchmark indicators for measuring an economy want to stand on a party which has clearly under performed. Former Bank of Zambia governor was very explicit that our economy started dwindling way before the arrival of covid 19.
Cry babies – From Climate change to HH to Covid and now to bill 10. Excuse after excuse. Just prepare you are still crying
It is true and you are right that we are very much divided as PF in Eastern province but it is not only in Eastern province where we need to unite, the whole party is in total disarray that is why we even lost bill 10. Our issues are deep rooted with those who are fighting the top leadership, there is even a group within PF that believes that our President is not even eligible to stand.
Trash 10’s main objective was to give PF politicians more power. Zambians are not as stupid Mr going to Jail.
If PF makes a mistake of adopting this guy in Chipata central, then we are voting for the opposition. We won’t allow chancers this time. Enough of job seekers. We have capable people already